CHUCK BERRY

VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30 JULY/AUGUST 2017

DARREL HIGHAM BILLY BRAGG

CHECKS IN AT PUNK ROCKS TROUBADOUR THE FINAL ALBUM
HELLS HOTEL TELLS THE STORY OF SKIFFLE REVIEWED & RATED

THE A 1957
W H Y IT W
BLUES HNADDTHEY THE GREAT AS
YEAR EVEREST
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H OW L I N WO LF
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H OW M U D
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& T-BONE WANLGED THE WORLD
AND CHA

REMEMBERING NICK CURRAN

CHARLIE RICHS SUN LEGACY
WWW.VINTAGEROCKMAG.COM

GODFATHER OF BRITISH BLUES MATCHBOXS GRAHAM FENTON

JOHN MAYALL
STILL CUTTING IT AT 83
SHOW REPORT
VIVA LAS VEGAS 2017
30

& SHOWING THE YOUNG

ISSUE 30 JULY/AUGUST 2017 5.99
30
VINTAGE
IssROuCKe 30
UNS HOW ITS DONE... 9 772054 357003
9 772054 357003

VR30.cover.indd 1 26/05/2017 17:07

z

WELCOME

Anthem Publishing, Piccadilly House,

WELCOME...
London Road, Bath, BA1 6PL
Tel 01225 489984
Email vintagerock@anthem-publishing.com
www.facebook.com/vintagerockmag

EDITOR Ed Mitchell
ed.mitchell@anthem-publishing.com
ART EDITOR Andy McGregor
andy.mcgregor@anthem-publishing.com
PRODUCTION EDITOR Dan Biggane
dan.biggane@anthem-publishing.com
ADVERTISING MANAGER Adrian Major
adrian@majormediasales.com
CHIEF EXECUTIVE Jon Bickley
jon.bickley@anthem-publishing.com
MANAGING DIRECTOR Simon Lewis
simon.lewis@anthem-publishing.com
ART DIRECTOR Jenny Cook
jenny.cook@anthem-publishing.com
MARKETING MANAGER
Gemma Bailey
gemma.bailey@anthem-publishing.com
CONTRIBUTORS
Johnny Black, Bill Dahl, Vince Eager, John
Howard, Patrick Humphries, Jack Watkins,
Paddy Wells, David West and Henry Yates
Head Office Anthem Publishing Ltd, Suite 6,
Piccadilly House, London Road, Bath BA1 6PL
Tel +44 (0) 1225 489 984
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Email enquiries@anthem-publishing.com
Printed by William Gibbons & Sons Ltd
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Distributed by Marketforce (UK) Ltd,
The Blue Fin Building, 110 Southwark Street
London SE1 0SU Tel +44 (0) 203 148 3000
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*Calls cost 7 pence per minute plus your phone
companys access charge
Welcome to my first issue as editor
of Vintage Rock. Think of me as the
plumper, Scottish-born reboot of the
younger, thinner and infinitely more
Welsh Steve Harnell who, Im sure
youll all agree, has done a fantastic
job of helming the magazine.
What gives me the right to step into
Steves shoes as he passes the VR torch
over and launches his other magazine Classic Pop as a monthly
title? Ive played rockabilly guitar to your classic three men and
a dog in countless pubs in Scotland; Ive twisted my ankle trying
to run in brothel creepers; not to mention, my first ever gig was
Shakin Stevens at the Glasgow Apollo back in the early-80s, a
fact I havent immortalised in print, until now. So, as you can
see youre in good hands.
What wont change is a commitment to bring you the best
quality new and archive content on the music and artists you
love, with a liberal side order of vintage culture the magazine
equivalent of driving your car to 88mph so you can get a guitar
lesson off Chuck Berry
This issue finds us slap bang in the middle of a couple of
hugely important musical events of the 1950s. In the first, writer
Johnny Black transports us back to the time when acoustic delta
blues musicians fled poverty and segregation in the South to
the more prosperous cities of Detroit and Chicago in the North,
where people like Muddy Waters and Howlin Wolf fuelled
the explosion of electric blues. The second event, ironically,
involves the skiffle phenomenon in 50s Britain, when kids were
enthralled by stripped down acoustic blues channelled through
homegrown artists like Lonnie Donegan and Chas McDevitt.
Both of these musical explosions set the scene for the pop and
rock music that was to follow in the 1960s. Its unlikely wed
ever have heard of The Rolling Stones without the influence
of American electric blues; and who knows what would have
become of the fledgling Beatles without the inspiration to
become musicians that came out of the skiffle craze.
We also have first-hand experience of how this American
music changed kids lives in the 50s from Godfather of British
Blues John Mayall and our own Vince Eager who got his start
thanks to skiffle.
I hope you enjoy this trip into the past, whether you lived
through it or not.

Ed Mitchell
Editor

Anthem Publishing is the proud home of Vintage Rock. Anthem was

established in 2003 and publishes Classic Pop Magazine, Guitar & Bass
Magazine and Music Tech Magazine.
www.anthem-publishing.com
ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 3

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 94
36

22

Getty
Jacob Blickenstaff

30 52 66
72
Getty

4 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30

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 IN THE ISSUE

CONTENTS
THE STARS
TOMMY HUNT 16
The RocknRoll Hall of Fame inductee and famed R&B vocalist with The Flamingos reveals
why he only has eyes for the UK
JOHN MAYALL 30
The Godfather Of British Blues tells us about being at the heart of the original British blues
boom and his new album Talk About That
GRAHAM FENTON 36
The Matchbox mainman, who has been at the forefront of the rockabilly revival for 45 years,
talks to Vintage Rock about his new A Rockabilly Legend album
NICK CURRAN 40
Little Richard meets the Ramones as we remember the rockabilly punk, Nick Curran who
passed away in 2012
DARREL HIGHAM 46
One of Britains finest exponents of rockabilly guitar makes his long-awaited return as
a solo artist with Hells Hotel
BILLY BRAGG 66
Billy Braggs lifts the cover on his new book and seeks to throw light on the musical genre

82
that fell through the cracks
VINCE EAGER 72
Brit-rocker Vince remembers the moment he heard Rock Island Line by Lonnie Donegan for
the first time and how it forever changed his life
LONNIE DONEGAN 76

46
Patrick Humphries tells the story of The King Of Skiffle and how his DIY brand of infectious
Getty

music inspired an entire generation

CHAS MCDEVITT 82
Jack Watkins looks back at the career of Chas McDevitt one of the leading lights of the
skiffle movement in the UK

THE FEATURES
ALL MAMAS CHILDREN 6
The latest happenings in the world of rocknroll, including the passing of Corki Casey ODell
TIME MACHINE 18
The story of Spade Cooley who was convicted for the brutal murder of his second wife, Ella Mae
THE BIRTH OF ELECTRIC BLUES 22
Johnny Black traces the marathon journey of electric blues and discovers how, by the
mid-50s it had become a fully-fledged genre in its own right
CLASSIC ALBUM: LONELY WEEKENDS WITH CHARLIE RICH 52
The sole Sun Records release from Charlie Rich
1957 THE GREATEST YEAR EVER 56
We revisit the year when Brits were told they never had it so good
LONG LIVE VINYL 88
From obscure reissues to long-lost unheard recordings, we dig out some great releases
ALBUM REVIEWS 90
New releases from Chuck Berry, Hiway51, Alice Jayne and The Big Jamboree
LIVE REVIEWS 96
Were in Long Island for its Doo-Wop Weekender and Nevada for the 20th Viva Las Vegas
A LIFE IN ROCKNROLL 108
Vince Eager recalls how, in 1960, he was embroiled in a Teddy Boy-related riot in Dundee
while on tour with Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent
SOUNDTRACK OF MY LIFE 112
Guitarist Albert Lee chooses his favourite songs from The Beach Boys and The Band to
ON THE COVER

Buddy Holly and a record he has no idea what its called but it involves yodelling
CODA 114
Billy Fury at the peak of his success in 1962

VR30.contents.indd 5 26/05/2017 14:57

 Corki Casey ODell (left),
the pioneering female
guitarist pictured playing
with old boss Duane Eddy,
passed away at the age of
80 on 11 May

6 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30

VR30.news_open.indd 6 26/05/2017 13:31

 Mamas

CORKI CASEY ODELL DIES AGED 80

Corki Casey ODell, the pioneering female guitarist who, as a member of The Rebels, backed
up leader and Rebel Rouser Duane Eddy on many of his biggest hits has died at the age of 80.
Affectionately described as the First Rock & Roll Sidechick by Eddy on her induction into the
Musicians Hall of Fame in 2014 in a ceremony that also celebrated the achievements of
country artist Barbara Mandrell and Nashville session guitarist Velma Smith the guitarist was
born Vivian J. Corki Ray Casey on 13 May, 1936.
She stood her place with all the guys, Hall of Fame founder Joe Chambers told
The Tennessean newspaper of her induction, on the night where she shared the stage with
bluesman Buddy Guy and rock guitarist Peter Frampton. She was not looked at as a female
player. She was looked at as a player, period. She was just a joy to be around. Corki didnt miss
a beat. She was just tearing it up.
One of the guitarists earliest recording sessions was for Sanford Clarks 1956 hit The Fool which
was subsequently recorded by Elvis Presley on his 1971 album, Elvis Country (Im 10,000 Years
Old). ODell kicked off her career with Duane Eddy on his 1959 debut album Have Twangy
Guitar Will Travel which yielded the hits Rebel Rouser and Ramrod.
ODell served as a member of Duane Eddys Rebels in the late-50s and early-60s before
marrying Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member Kenny ODell (his writing credits include
Behind Closed Doors for Charlie Rich and his own hit Beautiful People) almost 50 years ago and
they moved to Nashville in 1969. She is survived by her husband, three children, seven
Getty Images

grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 7

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 ALL
Mamas
CHILDREN
GRETSCH CLIFF GALLUP
DUO JET SIGNATURE
G
retsch Guitars is some might say, finally paying
tribute to Gene Vincent and his Blue Caps guitarist Cliff
Gallup, with its G6128T-CLFG Cliff Gallup Signature
Duo Jet model. Dressed in flawless gloss black lacquer, of
course, the guitar is a doppelgnger for Gallups original
1954 Duo Jet with its twin DynaSonic singlecoil pickups, a
rosewood fingerboard with period correct big block pearloid
inlays and 22 thin vintage-style frets, and a compensated
aluminum bridge with aluminum base. It also comes with
the obligatory Bigsby B3BBST vibrato unit with black
painted trough, classic arrow control knobs, and a
dark-stained headstock bearing Gallups signature.
The Duo Jet also features the deep U profile
mahogany neck, found on the earliest models,
finished, like the chambered mahogany and Gretsch Guitars pay tribute
arched maple top body, in a nitro-cellulose to Cliff Gallup, who died in
lacquer. Guitar-playing Gallup disciples have 1988, with this
G6128T-CLFG Cliff Gallup
long attempted to capture the feel and tone Signature Duo Jet model
of Cliffs guitar by pimping existing Duo Jet
reissue models with replacement parts. Two
period quirks of the 54 model that contribute
to that overall vibe of Cliffs cherished original,
that couldnt be missed, are the fixed arm of
the Bigsby vibrato, and a set of .11 to .50 gauge
flatwound strings. Expect a closer look at Gallups
career, and his signature guitar, in the next issue of
Vintage Rock.
A huge influence on Jeff Beck and Stray Cat Brian
Setzer, Cliff Gallup played lead on Gene Vincents
greatest cuts including Race With The Devil, Be-Bop-A-
Lula, Woman Love and I Sure Miss You cut in one session
on May 4, 1956 at Owen Bradleys Film & Recording Studio in
Nashville, Tennessee. He died in 1988.

8 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30

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 SOUTHERN Southern Culture On The
Skids features Rick Miller
(singer/ guitarist), Mary

CULTURE ON Huff (singer/bassist) and

Dave Hartman (drummer)

THE MOVE!
M
uch-loved American band
Southern Culture On The Skids
are set for a brace of appearances
in Spain later this year. The trio
singer/ guitarist Rick Miller, singer/
bassist Mary Huff and drummer Dave
Hartman will kick off their Spanish
escapades with a set at Hell Dorado
Kultur Elkartea, in Vitoria-Gasteiz
on 6 October before heading to Sala
Acaplco, Gijn the following day.
The remaining dates are at La Iguana Griswalds Cousin Eddie, will be the catalogue that stretches back to 1985s
Club, Vigo [8 October], Whisky Bar brilliantly-named Funtastic Dracula Voodoo Beach Party EP and culminates
Los Picos in Lirganes, Santander Carnival held at Ku Disco, Benidorm with 2016s The Electric Pinecones.
[10 October], Sala Caracol, Madrid on October 14. Classics that everyone should have
[11 October], Sala X, Seville [12 October] Regarded by fans, including the in their collection include 1995s Dirt
and the Razzmatazz in Barcelona new editor of this magazine, as the Track Date, 2000s Licquored Up And
[13 October]. The final date of the greatest live band out on the road today, Lacquered Down and 2004s Mojo Box.
tour to host the bands unique mix of Southern Culture On The Skids or For more information on Southern
country, surf, garage rock, presented SCOTS as theyre often abbreviated Culture On The Skids tour dates and
with the sartorial elegance of Clark draw from a huge, gem-filled back back catalogue visit www.scots.com.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS ADMISSION Prices start

Billy Fury Rock Ridge Rumble from 164 per person
BOOKING www.
Weekend No.8 4-6 AUGUST yesterdayoncemore.co.uk
FEATURING The Q Jumpers, Rockville, The Jets, The Outsiders,
7-9 JULY Darrel Higham, John Lewis Trio
FEATURING Colin Paul & The Original Persuaders plus Colins Solo VENUE Burdon Plain, Co. Durham NE16 The Welsh
Show, The Alligators featuring Tony Graham (Roy Orbison ADMISSION Prices start from 15 per person for an evening or 20
Specialist), Vince Hughes Rock N Roll Jukebox Show featuring for a day Rockabilly
tribute to Dion, plus Billy Fury on the big screen and Record Hop, BOOKING www.rockridgeevents.co.uk
visit Billy Fury statue and other sites in Billys home town Fair
VENUE Adelphi Hotel, Liverpool
ADMISSION Prices start from 164 per person High Rock-A-Billy 14-17 SEPTEMBER
BOOKING www.yesterdayoncemore.co.uk FEATURING The Ruzz Guitar Blues Revue, The Rimshots,Fat N
6-10 SEPTEMBER Furious, The Cueball Katz, Jake Allen & The Lawlessmen, The
FEATURING Anita ONight the Mercury Trio, Don Cavalli, Hayden Deadshots, The Three Farmer Boys,The Bullets, The Doggone
Mississippi To Mersey Elvis Thompson, Portuguese Pedro, The Booze Bombs Honkabillies, The Skiprats,
VENUE Pabellon Deportivo Municipal Joan Ortoll The Hayriders, The Retrobaits, Delta 88
Weekender Calafell, Spain VENUE The Hi Tide, Porthcawl, Wales
ADMISSION 70 ADMISSION Earlybird offer 70 (80 thereafter)
28-30 JULY BOOKING www.highrockabilly.es BOOKING www.welshrockabilly.co.uk
FEATURING All Elvis video
disco with the Nutty
Brothers (Neil & Andy), Adelphi Jive Blackpool Rock
Dominic Halpin & The Honey
Bs, Gordon Davis Tribute Weekend No.7 & Roll Weekender
to Elvis, Tony Graham
fantastic 1960s vocalist, 8-10 SEPTEMBER 15-17 SEPTEMBER
Colin Paul & The Persuaders FEATURING Colin Paul & The FEATURING The Firebirds, The Jets, The
VENUE Adelphi Hotel, Persuaders, The Kingcats, Revolutionaires, Memphis Lee & The Creepers,
Liverpool Dominic Halpin & The Honey Debra June & The Rockin Tunes
ADMISSION Prices start from Bees, Mark Keeleys Good VENUE Norbreck Castle Hotel, Blackpool
164 per person Rocking Tonight, The Firebirds, ADMISSION 159 per person
BOOKING www. Downtown Daddyos BOOKING www.ventureawaymusicweekends.co.
yesterdayoncemore.co.uk VENUE Adelphi Hotel, Liverpool uk/Blackpool_Rock_Roll_Weekender

ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 9

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 ALL
Mamas
CHILDREN
ALBUM OF THE MONTH
The Sun Records Story
VARIOUS ARTISTS
THE FRUITS OF SAM PHILLIPS ICONIC ENDEAVOURS
RECEIVE A WELCOME VINYL REBOOT...
L
egend has it that, a few years ago,
a limousine pulled up outside Sun
Studio at 706 Union Ave, Memphis,
Tennessee. With that, out stepped Bob
Dylan who headed to the X that marks
the spot where Elvis Presley stood to
record his Sun classics in 1953-55. Dylan
than apparently dropped to his knees,
kissed the X, then scuttled off back to
his limo. Its a great anecdote. It might
even be true. What it does underline is
the importance of what studio owner
and producer Sam Phillips, and cats like
Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl
Perkins and others, achieved at Sun.
If youre feeling the itch of dj vu here,
thats because Charlys The Sun Records
Story has been available on CD for a few
10 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30
VR30.sunrecords.indd 10
CHARLY RECORDS
years now. As enjoyable as that collection
is, few would quibble that vinyl is the
proper home for these ancient cuts.
Break open the beautifully presented
package and youll find 94 tracks
spread across a trio of double albums,
further split into three chapters [Roots,
Good Rockin Daddies, Hits & Then
Some]. Each album is presented in
heavyweight 180 gram audiophile vinyl
and accompanied by sleeve notes on the
history of Sun, Sam and his hard rock
amigos. Hits & Then Some isnt just a
clever name. This double LP plays host to
Suns most iconic tracks. Theres Rocket
88 by Jackie Brentson & His Delta Cats
[featuring Ike Turner, natch], Just Walkin
In The Rain by gifted chain gang The
Prisonaires, Bear Cat, DJ Rufus Thomas
response record to Big Mama Thorntons
Hound Dog, Blue Suede Shoes by Carl
Perkins and Little Junior Parkers original
1953 cut of Mystery Train, the tune that
would define rockabilly when rebooted by
Elvis Presley, Scotty Moore and Bill Black
in 1955.
Speaking of Elvis, The King features on
a single track here, Walk That Lonesome
Valley, a duet with Jerry Lee. Taking Elvis
out of the picture gives some breathing
space to the work of his onetime label-
mates like Johnny Cash [I Walk The Line,
Big River], Jerry Lee Lewis [Whole Lotta
Shakin Goin On, Great Balls Of Fire] and
Carl Perkins [Honey Dont, and the truly
menacing Dixie Fried]. Those icons aside,
there are some killer second division
gems like Red Hot and Flyin Saucer Rock
N Roll by Billy Lee Riley and Lonely
Weekends from Charlie Rich. Youll also
find the Bill Justis track Raunchy, the
45 that got George Harrison into John
Lennons Quarrymen when he played a
note perfect rendition in 1958.
KISS THIS BOB!
While Roots comes predominantly
embossed with the early blues sides Sam
Phillips cut at his Memphis Recording
Service including Highway Man by
Howlin Wolf, the singer he considered
the greatest he ever worked with theres
a number of white boy rockers from the
likes of Hardrock Gunter [Gonna Dance
All Night] and the ever-brilliant Charlie
Feathers [Defrost Your Heart]. That
theme continues on the Good Rockin
Daddies LPs with the train rhythm of
Jumpin Gene Simmons Crazy Woman,
the rollicking Judy courtesy of Rudy
Grayzell, and that Elvis namecheck, and
Jimmy Wages breathless [Take Me From
This] Garden Of Evil with a guitar solo
that sounds like it couldve fathered The
Cramps. Yes, you probably own these
tracks but the remastering and vinyl
format bring them bursting back to life.
Charly has made the past year infinitely
more enjoyable for Sun worshippers
thanks to the essential Johnny Cash:
The Original Sun Albums 1957-1964 CD
box set, and the Deluxe double 10 vinyl
print of The Million Dollar Quartet, the
infamous, informal late 1956 session
featuring Elvis, Jerry Lee, Johnny Cash
and Carl Perkins. If you need us to tell you
how essential The Sun Records Story is,
you might also be interested to know that
the sky is blue, and chocolate tastes nice.
Bob Dylan might want to kiss this too...
Ed Mitchell
26/05/2017 16:02
 RARE RockN Roll RECORDS
V
inyl can be an appreciating asset, so its wise to keep an eye on the market
when it comes to your rarer records. This month we lay five great platters
before the good folks at www.omegaauctions.co.uk

TROUBLEMAKERS
HIT THE ROAD
T
outed as for disciples of soul,
JUST WALKIN IN THE RAIN C/W BABY PLEASE THE SHEIK OF SHAKE
rockabilly, Stax, Sun Records, R&B, THE PRISONAIRES (SUN 186) DICKIE PRIDE (SEG 7937)
garage rock, and everything in This Sun rarity, recorded by three A scarce release from the talented
between Las Vegas-based revivalist band inmates from the Tennessee State Dickie Pride. This was his only EP
Shanda & The Howlers released their Penitentiary in Nashville is extremely release, issued on Columbia (SEG
debut album Trouble via the Rum Bar sought after. Even the reissue, put out 7937), at the age of 18. An unsung
label on 9 June. Featuring 11 tracks [that on Jack Whites Third Man Records, British rocknroll hero, Pride took his
speak directly of breakups, heartaches is a collectors item! own life at the ill-fated age of 27.
and moving on after surviving both], MINT VALUE: 300 MINT VALUE: 250
the album is described as the sum of a
range of influences that include artists
like Big Maybelle, Ruth Brown, Otis
Redding, The Crystals, LaVern Baker and
James Brown.
Formed in early 2015, the band
vocalist Shanda Cisneros, guitarist Trevor
Johnson, saxophonist Micah Lapping-
Carr, bassist Luke Metz, and drummer
Keith Alcantara have shared the stage
with the likes of Wanda Jackson, The
Blasters and Rev. Horton Heat.
Shanda and her crew showcase the
new album with a series of dates at The
Golden Tiki in Las Vegas on 30 June, The LISTEN TO ME SHAKE IT UP
Hubb in Pahrump, Nevada on 15 July, The BUDDY HOLLY (FEP 2002) THE VIBRATIONS
Sand Dollar, Las Vegas on 21 July and the This EP on Coral features a seldom Shakin the list up with this Chess
Rockabilly Extravaganza in Riverside, seen image of Buddy Holly without monster! This is essential spinning
California on 25 November. his glasses. Collectors will pay top for any DJ worth their salt with
money for this release from the fantastic breaks on this modern soul
For further information visit
rocknroll legend. 45 proving the labels diversity.
www.shandaandthehowlers.com.
MINT VALUE: 300 MINT VALUE: 400
ROCKIN WITH WEE WILLIE
WEE WILLIE HARRIS
Another outstanding EP here issued
by Decca (the original is a tri-centre
DFE 6465); without him would we
have had The Beatles?
MINT VALUE: 150+

ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 11

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 ALL
Mamas
CHILDREN
FIRST IT WAS TOMMY STEELE,
NOW ITS JOE BROWN
FROM THE Archives
JUNE HARRIS, DISC, 27 AUGUST 1960
I JUST CANT WAIT TO DO
THOSE PUB SHOTS
Aint it great about this film, mused Joe
Brown. Just think of it, me in me own
35-minute spot its goin to be better
than television.
Joes forthcoming movie, a 35-minute
feature film based on his life story, is to
be made by Jerry Bryant, who produced
The Tommy Steele Story. I wasnt half
surprised when I read the script, said
Joe. They havent changed a thing. We
begin shooting at the end of the month,
and the bit Im looking forward to will
be the shots in the pubs down in East
London. Me and the boys used to play
down the pubs when I was about 14, and
we had some cracking times, mate.
COCKLES
It all started when me mum bought me
a second-hand guitar. In between selling
cockles and mussels, I played around
with it, and a few of the lads joined in.
Soon, we had a swinging group, which we
called The Spacemen.
Joe Brown and The Spacemen played
in pubs and all that sort of thing, and
then, without the group, Joe did a season
at a Butlins holiday camp. When I came
home, me and the boys did an audition,
and were signed up by Jack Arnold to
play in the Strava Ballrooms. Shortly
afterwards Larry Parnes invited me to
audition. Jack Good was there, and that
was it. I didnt know what hit me, but I
landed up with two contracts one from
Jack for Boy Meets Girls, and another
from Larry Parnes. Talk about luck.
12 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30
Untitled-5 12
A MUDDLE
Show business to me is a muddle, he
admits, but when Im working, I love it.
There I am, just me and the boys having a
bash, and not caring about anything else
but what were doing. If I had me own
television show, or even a small spot in
someone elses, I would do exactly what
Im doing now. That is I wouldnt change
me act, Id sing a few numbers like Jellied
Eels and Darktown Strutters Ball, and
FANCY, ME A
FILM STAR! THE
LADS AND ME
MUM WILL BE
TICKLED PINK
belt a couple of things out on the old
guitar, but I would never work by a script,
just cant bear em.
Dont laugh when I tell you this, but Tommy Steele on many occasions, but he
if I had the time, I would even bash out
a couple of classical pieces by Brahms, I
like classical music, the only thing that
puts me off are the titles. I wish theyd
make em a little more simple.
In the film, Joe will be heard singing
three numbers written by Bill Crompton
and Morgan Jones. He has already
recorded two of them, Make A Monkey
Out Of Me, and Letter Of Love, a ballad.
Unfortunately, says Joe, I ruined me
voice yellin from the barrow, but I wish I
could sing.
In spite of the fact that Joe Brown
cannot read or write music, he has no
trouble in working out his arrangements,
which are always fresh and original.
I work these out as were going along,
he says. Fr instance, I give me knees a
good old knockin for the, drum parts,
and the drummer picks it up, find an
imaginary bass for the bass part, or pick
em out on the guitar. At times, I feel sorry
for the lads, but theyre used to me now.
In view of the arising success of Cliff
Richard and Adam Faith, it seemed
surprising that Joe Brown should be
chosen as the subject of a film life story.
You could have knocked me down
with a feather when I heard, says
Joe, but these people making the film
reckoned that my history was far more
colourful rather like Tommy Steeles
they said. Fancy, me a film star! The lads
and me mum will be tickled pink.
Joe is hoping that the movie will be
successful, Cos Id like to do a whole lot
more. Im not a star yet, but Im hoping
the film will help.
NEVER SEEN HIM
Joe Brown has been compared with
admits that he has never seen the artist
at work.
Ive never met him, and Ive never
seen him perform. Im sure its only
because Im a Cockney that people
compare me with him.
As for the future, All I need, says Joe,
is more time, more television and more
films. Personal appearances help, too, and
so do recordings. And as long as I keep
me head and wits about me, I might make
out yet.
June Harris, 1960
26/05/2017 11:55
 After signing a
management
agreement with Larry
Parnes ,Chirpy
Cockney Joe Brown,
charted with The
Darktown Strutters
Ball in 1960
Getty

ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 13

Untitled-5 13 26/05/2017 11:55

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14 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30

VR30.object.indd 14 26/05/2017 14:53


LEGENDS
OF ROCK
TOMMY HUNT
THE ROCKNROLL HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE
AND FAMED R&B VOCALIST WITH THE
FLAMINGOS REVEALS WHY HE ONLY HAS
EYES FOR THE UK BY JOHN HOWARD
T
he man who arranged the huge
harmony hit I Only Have Eyes
For You, later borrowed by Art
Garfunkel, Tommy Hunt, is now
a long-term UK resident. Hailing from
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Tommy
was a stalwart of doo-wop heroes The
Flamingos for four crucial years. Hunt
left the group in 1960 and released
a number of singles in the early-60s
including Human, The Door Is Open, So
Lonely, Didnt I Tell You Shell Hurt You
and And I Never Knew, which had the
first recording of I Just Dont Know What
To Do With Myself as a B-Side.
Tommy was inducted in the RocknRoll
Hall of Fame in 2001.
VINTAGE ROCK Tommy, you are now 84. Isnt it about time
you started dying your hair white?
TOMMY HUNT (laughing) I do dye my hair. I
dye it black!
VR Where were you born?
TH I was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
but as a young man I moved to the big city
of Chicago.
VR What was your first professional gig?
TH I joined a group called the Five
Echoes in Chicago. I enlisted in the Air
Force, then re-joined the Echoes. I was
VR30.legends.indd 12
approached by Zeke Carey of the well-
established Flamingos at a gig, and was
asked to take his place while he served his
time in the army. The group had already
had a regional hit with the original
version of Ill Be Home, which gave Pat
Boone a million seller. I remained with
the group when he returned, and we
moved to New York. We got national
recognition thanks to I Only Have Eyes
For You, which I arranged.
VR So how did you feel when Art Garfunkel turned that
arrangement into a worldwide million-seller years later?
TH You can copyright a song, but you
cant copyright an arrangement. I was
flattered he used my arrangement.
A member of The Flamingos, Nate
Nelson, wrote Lovers Never Say
Goodbye which sold well for us, and
he got his royalties for that.
VR Why did you quit The Flamingos?
TH Three of the members, Jake and
Zeke Carey, and Johnny Carter, were
cousins, and they were members of the
black Jewish Church of God and Saints
of Christ Congregation. Jewish hymns
were an influence on their harmonies in
the early days, before I joined. They kept
trying to convert me to Judaism, and Im
a Baptist.
I also wanted to try a solo career, and
by the time I
left the group
I had already
cut my first
solo single. It
was released
three days
after I left the
group. It was
called Parade
Of Broken
Hearts.
Getty Images
VR What happened then?
TH Well, the A-Side of the disc didnt do
much business, but New York disc jockey
Jocko Henderson decided to play the flip,
a song called Human. This turned into
my biggest solo hit in the USA, and it also
became the title of my autobiography
when I came to write it years later.
VR How did you end up in Britain?
TH Ive lived in Yorkshire for many years,
but I first came to Europe in 1969. I met
an Australian called Geoff Patterson while
I was working the US service bases in
Germany, and he said that if I wanted to
work in Europe, he would look out for
me. For various reasons, I had decided
to leave the States, so I came over, but
initially I couldnt find Geoff. However,
the man who had taken over his job
booking acts into the bases helped me out,
and worked as my agent organising gigs in
Europe, and I lived in Holland for a while.
Eventually, I was invited to live in the
UK, and was told that I still had fans in
the UK who were interested in my music,
and that proved to be the case.
I was pleasantly surprised at the
response when I first played the Wigan
Casino. That was my first introduction
to what I now know is Northern Soul.
Prior to that, Id never heard of it. I
thought I was going to play a casino,
but I discovered that was just the name
of the place.
VR Then you had hits with numbers like Loving On The
Losing Side and Crackin Up on Spark.
TH I was very lucky, and remain lucky. I
work with a Spanish doo-wop group I
named The New Flamingos, and with
a ten-piece Northern Soul band called
The Signatures. I will be recording again
soon. I wont quit show business until Im
called to that Big Gig in the Sky.
26/05/2017 14:59
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 TIME

Alamy

18 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30

VR30.timemachine.indd 18 26/05/2017 13:49


SPADE COOLEY
MURDERS
HIS WIFE
AMERICAN WESTERN SWING MUSICIAN DONNELL CLYDE COOLEY,
AKA SPADE COOLEY, WAS A LARGER THAN LIFE CHARACTER WHO,
AS JOHNNY BLACK DISCOVERS, HAD A DARK SIDE
I
n the early 1960s, ageing
country music star
Spade Cooley and his
significantly younger wife
Ella Mae were living on
his remote ranch, Rosamund,
in the Mojave Desert near
Bakersfield, California.
A decade earlier, between
B-movie film work,
recordings, his own TV
show, radio and concerts,
Cooley had been pulling
down $10,000 a week, but
his career, along with many
others, took a nose-dive in
1955 when rocknroll became
the new thing. Nevertheless,
when he announced his
retirement in early 1960, he
still had $15m in the bank.
Cooley was by now an
alcoholic and pill-popper and,
paranoid with jealousy of his
young wife, he relentlessly
accused her of infidelity.
Desperate to leave him, in the
second week of March 1961,
Ella Mae was hospitalised for
emotional problems. Towards
the end of March, Cooley
contacted a private detective
and asked him to check up
on his wife, probably to
help build his case against a
potential divorce settlement.
In the meantime, Cooley
continued to badger Ella Mae,
demanding that she admit her
sexual transgressions. Within
days, she would be dead.
VR30.timemachine.indd 19
31 MARCH, 1961
As they bicker in a moving
automobile, Ella Mae either
jumps or is pushed from their
car. Despite serious bruises,
she does not seek medical help.
Leonard Winters (private
investigator): He had a
mean streak in him, he was
running out of money and he
was drinking heavily at that
time. He always was very
possessive.
Bobbie Bennett, (Cooley's
manager): He virtually kept
her a prisoner. He was very
jealous of her. Of course he
was with another woman, or
two or three, every night.
Kit Nelson (District
Attorney): She was going
to leave this man. Shed had
enough. She wanted a divorce.
No-one gets away from Spade
Cooley unless he tells them.
Bobbie Bennett: Cooley was
a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde-
type person.
3 APRIL, 1961
6pm Convinced that Ella
Mae is involved in a sex-cult
love triangle with medical
technicians Clifton Davenport
and Luther Jackson, Spade
Cooley brutally beats,
kicks and strangles her
into unconsciousness.
Spade Cooley (courtroom
testimony): She told me
about a love cult she had
joined. She described her
initiation at length. It was
with two men in a motel
near our home. It included
unnatural sex acts. I hit her.
The next thing I can recollect,
I saw her half on the bed
and half on the floor. I must
have hurt her terribly. I have
a hazy recollection it was
an animal, not Ella Mae. I
can only say that when she
told me about that love cult,
rockets went off in my brain.
My head was literally on fire!
Clifton Davenport: To
serve his own purposes, only
Spade Cooley would think
up something like a free-love
cult. His statement only goes
HE VIRTUALLY
KEPT HER A
PRISONER.
HE WAS VERY
JEALOUS OF
HER. OF COURSE
HE WAS WITH
ANOTHER
WOMAN, OR TWO
OR THREE, EVERY
NIGHT.
BOBBIE BENNETT
TIME
to show how his mind works
and that he is a person, in my
estimation, void of human
decency. I am appalled and
amazed at what lengths he
would go to.
6:20pm Their daughter,
Melody, 14, who has been
visiting friends, arrives home.
Melody Cooley (courtroom
testimony): When I entered
he was on the phone. He was
talking to a business partner,
Beal Whitlock. I heard him
say: Beal, don't call the
police. He was real sweaty
and he had blood spots on his
pants. He said to me: Come
in here. I want you to see
your mother. She is going to
tell you something. He took
hold of my arm and took me
into the den. The shower
was running in the bathroom.
Mother was in the shower.
He opened the door and said:
Get up, Melodys here. Talk
to her.
He grabbed her by the hair
and dragged her into the den
with both hands. She was
undressed. He banged her
head on the floor twice. He
called her a slut. She couldnt
move. She seemed to be
unconscious. He turned back
to mother and said: Well
see if youre dead. Then he
stomped her in the stomach
with his left foot. He took
ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 19
26/05/2017 13:49
 SPADE COOLEY MURDERS HIS WIFE
a cigarette which he had
been smoking and burned
her twice.
Spade Cooley (courtroom
testimony): She went into
the shower alone. I didnt
push her or shove her. There
was a terrible thud.
P. Basil Lambros (Defense
attorney): The whole crux
of this case is what happened
in the shower. She wasnt
pushed into the shower.
What actually happened,
nobody knows.
Spade Cooley: I rubbed her
wrists, breathed in her mouth,
put cold towels on her head,
and I prayed. I did not hit her
with my fists. I went in a rage.
I slapped her.
Melody Cooley: He told me,
Youre going to watch me kill
her, Melody. If you dont, Ill
kill you, too. Ill kill us all.
6.30pm The phone rings,
and while Cooley answers
it, the terrified Melody runs
for her life, returning to
her friend's house.
8pm Manager Bobbie Bennett
arrives, sees Ella Mae is dead,
calls Dorothy Davis, the nurse
and family friend, and his
married son and daughter-in-
law, John and Dorothy Cooley.
11.35pm An ambulance, called
for by Cooley himself at the
insistence of Dorothy Davis,
arrives at the ranch.
Richard Stickel (ambulance
driver): It was a hard time
finding it out there at that
time because there was
nothing out there, but we
found it. When I got there,
I went into the house and
he told me his wife needed
taking to the hospital. I kinda
questioned it. I was by myself,
didnt have anybody with me.
The house was in disarray,
you could see there had been
some kind of... uh... activity.
She was lying on the floor
and I could see that she had
bruise marks on her and burn
marks on her.
20 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30
VR30.timemachine.indd 20
I told Spade Cooley I
couldnt get a pulse. I said she
didnt seem to be breathing,
but Cooley kept saying there
were noises coming out of
her throat. You see! You hear
her? hed say.
But I wasnt gonna argue
with the man when he said
he wanted to take her to the
hospital. He helped me put
I TOLD SPADE COOLEY I COULDNT
GET A PULSE. I SAID SHE DIDNT SEEM
TO BE BREATHING, BUT COOLEY KEPT
SAYING THERE WERE NOISES COMING
OUT OF HER THROAT. YOU SEE! YOU
HEAR HER? RICHARD STICKEL
her on the stretcher and put
her in the ambulance.
11.45pm: Ambulance leaves
the Cooley ranch
Richard Stickel: He rode in
the back seat, behind me, and
I kept thinking all the way
on that back road, you know,
River Springs Road, what had
happened, and the man was
riding right behind me. It
was scary.
12.20pm Ella Mae Cooley, 37
years old, is declared dead on
arrival at Tehachapi Hospital.
Dr. Vincent Troy (medical
report): Upon our arrival,
observed the victim to be
a Caucasian female of the
apparent stated age of 37
years. There were numerous
marks of external violence
noted on the body consisting
of bruises over the entire
body, indicating the victim
had been beaten severely.
When I was told the
circumstances of how this
woman died, that shed
suffered a fall in the shower, I
found this to be inconsistent
with the condition of her
body. She was badly bruised
and these appeared to have
been inflicted, repeatedly so.
It was my judgment that the
coroner be notified and an
investigation ordered before
any further determinations
could be made as to the cause
of Ella Mae Cooleys death.
12.45am The Mojave Sheriff s
Office and Kern County
Sheriff's Office are notified.
The Mojave officers arrive at
the hospital first and begin
questioning Cooley, who
maintains that his wife died
from a fall in the shower.
Sgt. H.E. Cooper (Kern
County Sheriff's Office):
At approximately 12:45am, I
received a telephone call at
my residence, stating that
there had been a victim
of a beating brought into
the Tehachapi Emergency
Hospital and that upon
arrival, that victim had been
pronounced dead.
Deputy Marion Dickey
(Mojave Sheriff's Office):
We found Spade Cooley in
what Id describe as a state of
shock. I noticed right away
that his hands were swollen
and bruised, and he was
shook up, saying the fact that
his wife was really dead was
hitting him bad.
Maybe excited is the
better word to describe
his condition.
I got him some water and,
sort of coming apart at the
seams, he told us his wife had
jumped from the car a few
days earlier, but he didnt give
much detail. Then she fell in
the shower, he said, and hit
her head. He said he believed
she had a concussion.
I looked at the body and
she looked like somebodyd
clobbered her. I didnt need
any medical confirmation to
see that this woman had been
beaten to death.
Sgt. H.E. Cooper: On arrival
at the Tehachapi Hospital,
we were contacted by Sgt.
Shuell of the Mojave Sub-
Station who had just been
talking to Spade Cooley. This
conversation was taking place
in the waiting room of the
Tehachapi Hospital.
Chief Fote and myself
contacted Spade Cooley and
he stated that he would gladly
give us a statement of what
happened at his ranch house
earlier in the evening.
Along with Chief Fote,
Sgt. Shuell and Coroner
Stan Newman, Spade Cooley
was taken into a doctors
office at the Tehachapi
Hospital where he was
briefly interrogated.
Dr. Vincent Troy: He stated
his wife had jumped from a
moving automobile a couple
days prior to this and had
fallen in the shower on this
particular evening, which
caused the injuries.
Further questioning
revealed he did admit
slapping his wife two or three
times while at their ranch in
Willow Springs.
Sgt. H.E. Cooper: After
talking to Spade Cooley for
about 20 to 25 minutes, Mr
Cooley stated that he would
free and voluntarily on his
part proceed with Sgt. Shuell
and myself to the Sub-station
in Mojave.
Richard Stickel: They were
very nice to him, whether
because he was a celebrity or
not, I dont know. And he was
very co-operative and nice
about the whole thing.
3am Cooley is interviewed by
Deputy Harmon Cooper for an
hour in the Mojave Sheriff's
Sub Station, then arrested.
Sergeant Tom Shuell
(Mojave Sheriff's Dept):
26/05/2017 13:49

He stuck to the story about
her falling in the shower. We
didnt believe him and, during
the recorded interview,
talking about his swollen
hands, he did finally admit
to having struck his wife. He
said, ... slapping her maybe a
couple times because she was
hysterical, but that was it...
That was all. I asked, How
many times did you slap her?
You hit her once? You hit her
twice or more than twice?
He confessed he mightve
struck her more than once
but denied having done
anything that couldve caused
any serious injuries.
Bill Gillis (reporter,
Henderson Home News): I
was one of the first newsmen
Alamy
on the scene. While news,
radio and TV men werent
afforded the opportunity
to interview Cooley, we
did see him, and he was
understandably haggard after
several hours of questioning.
As dawn was breaking
over the desert mountains,
Cooley was handcuffed and
driven to Bakersfield, 90
miles from Mojave.
4 APRIL, 1961
Spade Cooley is booked into
Kern County Jail, Bakersfield,
California, USA.
Tex Williams (employee of
Spade Cooley): The Deputy
District Attorney from
Bakersfield came down and
spent two or three hours with
me and he was on the scene.
There was no way I could say
it was an accident.
Leonard Winters: When
he was arrested, he couldnt
wait to talk. He wanted to tell
them the whole story. Not the
true story, of course, but he
thought he could talk himself
out of it.
10 JULY, 1961
Trial starts at Kern County
Superior Court No.5,
Bakersfield, and will last for
six weeks. Cooley pleads not
guilty by reason of insanity.
VR30.timemachine.indd 21
WHEN HE WAS ARRESTED, HE
COULDNT WAIT TO TALK. HE WANTED
TO TELL THEM THE WHOLE STORY. NOT
THE TRUE STORY, OF COURSE, BUT HE
THOUGHT HE COULD TALK HIMSELF
OUT OF IT. LEONARD WINTERS
Bill Gillis: Kern County
Superior Court No.5 isn't
particularly spacious. In fact,
it seats only 62. But hours
before the start of the daily
sessions, a long line formed
hoping to gain admission.
Most of the curious were
women, maybe 90 per cent.
Leonard Winters: The
courtroom was packed.
Theyd bring lunches and
wait out in the corridor
for seats.
Bill Gillis: During the six
weeks of testimony an air
of informality reigned in
the jurors box. Only one
or two men ever bothered
to wear ties. Sport shirts
were the motif. Some even
chewed gum. Kern County
District Attorney Kit Nelson,
the prosecutor, and P. Basil
Lambros, who represented
Cooley, were a study of
TIME
times had to be restrained by
Judge Bradshaw.
The colour pictures I saw
(about eight) of Ella Maes
body would tend to indicate
she had been subjected
to a considerable beating,
particularly her face.
Kit Nelson (D.A. and
prosecutor): Mr. Cooley is
not normal. He is abnormal,
has sadistic tendencies
and a dual personality. His
recollections are convenient
memory to Mr. Cooley, but
he doesnt recall when things
look bad for Mr. Cooley.
19 AUG, 1961
Don Spade Cooley (left), Spade Cooley is convicted of
with his attorney, P. Basil first degree murder.
Lambros, leaving the
Leonard Winters: Ill never
courtroom after Cooley was
found guilty in 1961 forget it. The jury brought
the verdict in as guilty and
youd have thought he was
a star all over again. People
hugged him, they kissed him,
they cried, the men cried,
after finding him guilty of
first degree murder. Oh my
God, Ive never seen anything
like it in my life.
Bobbie Bennett: It was an
accident. He never intended
to kill her. We had thousands
opposing contrasts. Lambros, of letters from all over the
a flamboyant individual, country and most of them felt
wandered endlessly that, because of the pleasure
around the courtroom as he had brought them, and so
he hammered away at the forth, they didnt feel he was
prosecution witnesses. particularly guilty. But I must
Nelson wasted no words, say, as far as the particular
rather stood quietly by his entertainers in the field, they
desk, querying witnesses were very harsh as far as he
with the damaging questions was concerned. It was such a
that were to lead to Cooleys shock to me that I just closed
conviction. Frequently, they up my office and I went back
engaged in verbal clashes, at into law.
W H AT H A P P E N E D N E X T ?
Cooley withdrew his insanity plea, and Judge William L. Bradshaw sentenced him to life in
prison. He had cheated the gas chamber. His physical and emotional state qualified him for a
cell at a much less forbidding lockup, the California State Prison at Vacaville.
After Ronald Reagan was elected governor of California in 1966, mutual friends from the
B-movie business began lobbying for a pardon or parole for Cooley. Reagan waved his magic
wand, and in August 1969 the state parole board unanimously recommended parole for
Cooley, effective 22 February, 1970 his 60th birthday. However, he never learned of his
pardon. On 23 November, 1969, during a three-day furlough to perform in Oakland at a
benefit concert for the Alameda County Sheriffs Department, Cooley left the stage with
cheers ringing his ears. Backstage, asked how he felt, he replied: As if the rest of my life is
just beginning. Moments later, he dropped down dead of a heart attack.
ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 21
26/05/2017 13:49
 THE BIRTH OF ELECTRIC BLUES

From Roosevelt Sykes in 1932 to Elvis Presley in

1954, Johnny Black traces the marathon journey
of electric blues and discovers how, by the mid-50s
it had beco e a ully edged genre in it own right

22 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30

VR30.electricblues.indd 22 26/05/2017 12:42

 n 22 September, 1932, blues
pia n ist Roosevelt Sykes
recorded Highway 61 Blues in
R ich mond , I nd ia n a , for
Champion Records. This was
the first of many songs about
the 1,400 mile highway which
began in downtown New Orleans, rolled north
through Baton Rouge, ran the length of
Mississippi, on to Memphis, Tennessee, and
ended at the Canadian border.
Sykes looked like a cigar-chomping pug dog,
but he was known as The Honeydripper,
allegedly for his winning way with the ladies,
and in the song he wailed: Lord it breaks my
heart: to sing about Highway 61, I felt so blue:
while I was out on that lonely highway.
The song told of his 300 mile journey from
his home in St. Louis, Missouri, to Memphis,
Tennessee, where: The women out there, don't
mean no one man no good.
Sykes true motivation for travelling along
Highway 61 was less about the women he might
encounter than about the work opportunities
a bigger city like Memphis might offer.
Tens of thousands of his peers travelled for the
same reason but, usually they came from further
south and, rather than Memphis, their
Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo

American bluesman, Muddy

Waters, often cited as the father
of modern Chicago blues

ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 23

VR30.electricblues.indd 23 26/05/2017 12:43

 THE BIRTH OF ELECTRIC BLUES

Legendary Roosevelt Sykes, also

American blues known as The
singer-songwriter Honeydripper, recorded
and guitarist Highway 61 Blues
Robert Johnson in 1932
Alamy

destination was Chicago. They would begin their

Highway 61 migrations from as far south as New
Orleans but, after reaching St. Louis, they would
The sheer
Getty

switch to Route 66 to finish their journey to The

numbers of Windy City.
black musicians Queen Consider Koko Taylor, bearer of the soubriquet agricultural labourers hoping to make a better
Of The Blues, who grew up chopping cotton living in the factories of the North than they could
oc ing into in the Mississippi Delta. She left the south in 1952, in the fields of the South. Nevertheless, its a striking
hicago eant, aged 18, and with her husband: Got the Greyhound fact that many of the artists who took the blues
bus up Highway 61 and headed north to Chicago. north B.B. King, Robert Johnson, Charley Patton,
ine itably, that He didn't have no money and I didnt have no money. Son House, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, Sonny
u ic in the We had one box of Ritz crackers that we split Boy Williamson II (Rice Miller), Robert Nighthawk,
between us. With no money, nowhere to live, no Sunnyland Slim, Honeyboy Edwards, James Cotton
city would be nothing; we was just taking a chance. and Jimmy Reed, lived close to Highway 61.
changed The mass migrations north, however, started
much earlier. In the opening BLUES FOR CHICAGO
Singer Koko Taylor decades of the 20th century, the In August 1941, Alan Lomax of the Library Of
known as Queen Of Mississippi River had been the Congress Folk Song Library journeyed to Stovall
The Blues poses for a major route along which black Plantation, near Clarksdale, Mississippi, on an
portrait circa 1966
music jazz and acoustic blues expedition to record country blues musicians.
could travel to the cities of the While there, he encountered a young man called
north but, by the 1940s, the McKinley Morganfield who played guitar and
development of rail and road harmonica and sang.
networks significantly increased He brought his stuff down and recorded me
the possibilities for escape not just right in my house, Muddy Waters later told
from rural poverty but from racial Rolling Stone magazine.
bigotry and violence. Man, you dont know how I felt that Saturday
The statistics tell the story very afternoon when I heard that voice and it was my
well. In 1910 the black population own voice. Later on he sent me two copies of the
in Chicago numbered 44,000, but pressing and a cheque for 20 bucks, and I carried
by 1940 it had grown to 492,000 that record up to the corner and put it on the
Getty

and by the mid-1950s it was 813,000 jukebox. Just played it and played it and said, I can
Most of t he m ig ra nt s were do it, I can do it.

24 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30

VR30.electricblues.indd 24 26/05/2017 12:48

 The crossroads at Clarksdale,
Mississippi, where legend has it
Robert Johnson sold his soul
Alamy
Suitably inspired, Muddy left the plantation in
1943 and headed north to Chicago where he found
work in a paper mill, but continued to play music.
Big Bill Broonzy, Tampa Red, Big Maceo, we
brought a different beat to the city, recalled Muddy
later. There wasnt anything like it. Little wonder
then that this road, the supposed location of the
crossroads on which Robert Johnson made a deal
with the devil to gain his prodigious musical gifts,
has long been known as The Blues Highway.
The sheer numbers of black musicians flocking
into Chicago meant, inevitably, that music in the
city would be changed. However, other significant
factors helped ensure that the new music being
Getty
made in The Windy City would ultimately spread
across the globe and spawn another revolution
rocknroll.
Those factors were the popularity of Hawaiian
music and the use of electricity to amplify Hawaiian
steel guitars. The acoustic guitar was being widely
employed in jazz in the 1920s, but only as a rhythm
instrument until a brief but widespread vogue for
Hawaiian music caused many larger American
orchestras to introduce Hawaiian songs into their
sets. However, they found themselves facing a
problem. In Hawaiian music, the steel guitar
The Frying Pan, the worlds oldest
provided melody, but it was such a quiet instrument electric guitar, built by George
that it was drowned out by an orchestra. In an effort Beauchamp in the 1930s
VR30.electricblues.indd 25
Brianmcmillen
GOVERNOR OF THE BLUES
William James Dixon was an important
link between the blues and rocknroll
Understandably, the birth of electric blues is often perceived in
terms of the pioneering guitarists, T-Bone Walker, Elmore James,
B.B. King and others, who brought the music to the fore. Willie
Dixon was not one of those.
William James Dixon was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on
1 July, 1915. Some of his earliest musical experiences came in a
gospel group, The Union Jubilee Singers, where voice and melody
were paramount, and by the time he pitched up in Chicago in
1936, Dixon had started setting his poems to music. Standing
6ft 4in and weighing more 250 pounds, he briefly became a
successful boxer (1937), founded vocal group The Five Breezes
(1939), and spent ten months in jail as a conscientious objector
(1942), refusing to fight for a nation which endorsed
institutionalised racism.
By 1951, he was a full time employee at Chess Records, working
as a producer, talent scout, session bassist and songwriter.
I began to take life apart and put it together into words, Dixon
later said. I found out that things from my past fitted a lot
of people in the present and also their hopes for the future.
It didnt always have to be a sad song blues can be happy as
well as sad.
His compositions, always as direct and simple as they are
irresistible, include such classics as Back Door Man, My Babe,
Wang Dang Doodle, Spoonful, Hoochie Coochie Man, I Just Want
To Make Love To You and Diddy Wah Diddy, which have been
recorded not just by almost every musician on Chess but by artists
as diverse as Led Zeppelin, Peter Paul And Mary, Bruce
Springsteen, The Doors and Elvis Costello.
Dixons typically concise summation of the blues remains true
The blues are the roots and the other musics are the fruits.
to solve this problem, the world's first electric guitar
and amplifier combination was built in 1928 by steel
guitarist George Beauchamp, on his kitchen table
in Los Angeles, with the help of craftsman Harry
Watson and their partner Adolph Rickenbacker.
Around the same time, young San Francisco-
based jazz guitarist, Alvino Rey, was pursuing a
similar line of thought. Ive always been an
electronic nut, Rey explained. In fact, that was
my ambition, to be an electronics engineer, and I
just applied the amplification of that to the guitar
and string instruments. As far as I know, it was the
first application to a string instrument. I used the
idea just to be heard in a band. And after that, it
became an integral part of an orchestra.
In spring of 1935 Rey was hired by the Gibson
ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 25
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 THE BIRTH OF ELECTRIC BLUES
Guitar Corporation to produce a prototype pickup
based on the one he had developed. The result was
used for Gibsons first electric guitar, the ES-150
in 1936, the same year in which Rickenbacker
applied for a patent for their electro-Spanish guitar.
Before long, jazz and swing big bands began
introducing amplified guitars into their line-ups
and jazz guitarists, notably Charlie Christian, were
using the instrument as a melodic instrument.
Also around 1936, Los Angeles blues guitar slinger
T-Bone Walker began to experiment with the
electric guitar.
Born Aaron Thibeaux Walker in Linden, Texas,
he had begun his career in Dallas in the 1920s,
and in his late teens was often to be found
leading a family friend, Blind Lemon Jefferson,
along that citys streets. By the age of 25, T-Bone
was performing in the clubs along Central Avenue,
Los Angeles, but despite his proficiency on guitar,
he was employed mainly as a singer.
It was not until 20 July, 1942, that T-Bone got the
opportunity to play some lead solos on the tracks
Mean Old World and Got A Break Baby, during a
Hollywood recording session with the Freddie Slack
Big Band. Many experts cite this as the first
26 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30
VR30.electricblues.indd 26
significant electric blues recording. Walkers use
T-Bone Walker was
an influential of intricate jazz chords coupled with his superb
pioneer of the tone and sense of dynamics made him an inspiration
jump blues and for countless later guitarists, among them B.B. King,
electric blues sound
who has said: He was the first electric guitar player
I heard on record. He made me so that I just had to
go out and get an electric guitar that was the best
sound I ever heard.
Mississippi-born Jimmy Rogers was one of many
axemeisters who moved to Chicago in the
mid-1940s, after playing around Memphis with the
likes of Little Walter. I came on a bus, he told Paul
Trynka for his authoritative 1996 book Portrait Of
The Blues. I had uncles and cousins in Chicago, so
I felt pretty safe there. It was a big raggety city to
me, big tall buildings, cars blowing their horns,
buses running and people making a lot of noise.
But I wanted to meet these guys Tampa Red, Big
Bill, Memphis Slim, Memphis Minnie, Doctor
Clayton and people like that cause they were
based around there.
It was in Memphis, however, that he had first
caught sight of an electric guitar in the hands of
locally-revered bluesman Joe Willie Wilkins.
Joe Willie had the first electric guitar Id actually
seen, revealed Rogers. So when I got to Chicago
I got a guitar with a De Armond pickup, so we had
an electric sound. We had just small amplifiers,
I had a small Gibson with a 12 speaker, but you
could get a good sound. That was before Muddy
came. Wed get power from a man in the block. He
would drop an extension cord from his front
Getty
window down to the street, and we'd jack in there
and get the juice.
Rogers quickly realised that amplification
significantly increased his income. Other guys
would be playing acoustic, but the sound of the
Around 1936, amplifiers was drawing most of the people away,
Los Angeles so we would make good money thats why we did
blues guitar that. Instead of the $5 a night he had been earning
in nightclubs, playing on the street could earn him
slinger T-Bone up to $70 a night.
Walker began Thus, by the time Muddy Waters moved to
Chicago, he found that: There was amplified music
to experiment but it wasn't like the beat I brought from Mississippi.
with the I got amplified after I came to Chicago because of
electric guitar the acoustics. Everybody was dancing and yelling
and having a good time and couldn't hear the music.
CHESS MAKES ITS MOVE
So it was that in 1944, Muddy bought his first
electric guitar and formed an electric combo.
Playing in small venues, electric blues bands
tended to remain modest in size compared with
larger jazz bands, so the new-fangled electric
guitars proved ideal for creating a big sound from
a small group.
Recordings were being made in the new style as
An early advert for The Gibson early as 1946 by Chicago-based musicians such as
Guitar Corporations ES-150 electric mandolin-playing Johnny Shines (Delta
26/05/2017 12:45

Pine Blues, 1946), Johnny Young (Worried Man
Blues, 1947) and Snooky Pryor (Stockyard Blues,
1947), but it was Muddy who perfected the style.
Muddy didnt release his fi rst single, Gypsy
Woman/Little Anna Mae, until 1948 on Aristocrat
Records. That fi rst release, as he subsequently
recalled, was an instant success: I believe the
figure was 3,000 on Friday and on Sunday morning,
couldnt buy one. Sold out. I went to a record store
and tried to buy two. No. Said it was one to a
customer. I had to buy one and send my wife in to
get another. Thats how fast it was selling.
The great blues songwriter Willie Dixon has
observed that, as well as being electrically-powered,
Muddy stood apart from the general run of
bluesmen, because his sound reflected the optimism
of postwar African Americans.
There was quite a few people around singing the
blues but most of them was singing all sad blues,
explained Dixon. Muddy was giving his blues a
little pep.
Despite Aristocrats success with Muddy and
other artists, it was destined not to last very long.
Founded as a small indie in 1947, it was quite quickly
VR30.electricblues.indd 27
Sonny Boy Williamson II and his band (Joe Willie Wilkins,
Joe Pine Top Perkins, Sonny Boy Williams , James Peck
Curtis the announcer, Hugh Smith and Houston Stackhouse)
perform on the King Biscuit Time radio show at KFFA radio
station circa 1942 in Helena, Arkansas
taken over by a pair of ambitious Polish immigrant
nightclub operators, Phil and Leonard Chess, who
re-named it Chess Records in the June of 1950.
Muddy Waters was our first really big artist,
explains Marshall Chess, the son of Leonard Chess.
His was the first electric band. In a way, Muddy
was an immigrant, like my father. Muddy came
from a farm where you made 50 cents a day. He
came to Chicago, just like my father, and what's an
immigrant's big dream? To make money. My father
There was quite and the blues singers were there to make money,
not to make great music. It was never a head trip
a few people of, Lets make great music. Music is art. That
around singing wasn't it. The main reason was to make money.
Chess and its sister label, Checker, would become
the blues but synonymous with Chicagos burgeoning electric
most of them blues scene, releasing a steady stream of classics by
was singing artists including Howlin Wolf, Muddy Waters and
Buddy Guy.
all sad blues, Another lynch pin of the Chess roster was bassist
Muddy was and composer Willie Dixon. He wrote many songs
which have become blues standards, such as
giving his blues Hoochie Coochie Man and I Just Want To
a li le pep Make Love To You (for Muddy Waters), and Wang
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 THE BIRTH OF ELECTRIC BLUES

Dang Doodle, Spoonful and Back Door Man (for

Howlin Wolf). As well as being a superb musician
and songwriter, Dixon was a world-class producer.
I had to get involved in the recording, to get the
right tone, otherwise it wouldnt come out the way
I wanted, he revealed. Getting the sound was
sometimes hard.
There was this rivalry between Wolf and Muddy,
and each of them thought the other was getting the
best songs. A lot of times Wolf wouldnt like a song
unless I told him Id written it for Muddy.
There was no headphones, maybe only one or
two microphones, youd have to do all the
harmonising and blending with your ears, go into
the room and listen, and work out how to blend the
sound properly.

THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN

Although Chicago was unquestionably the hub
of the electric blues revolution it should not be
forgotten that other cities had also benefitted
from the waves of migration north. Urban areas
including Memphis, Los Angeles, New York
and Washington DC had all seen an increase in
electric blues activity.
To take just one prominent example, by 1949,
Detroit-based John Lee Hooker was pursuing
his own unique electric blues style based on his
sandpaper growl accompanied by a single electric

Getty
guitar. His first hit, Boogie Chillen, on the Los
Angeles-based Modern Records, reached No.1 on
the R&B charts in 1949, after which he remained
a major figure until his death in 2001. Thus, by the In the 1950s, Howlin Wolf had After establishing that a local radio station,
late 1940s it was becoming evident to the world five songs on the Billboard WLAC, was broadcasting this music and creating
national R&B charts: Moanin
outside Chicago that something was happening. At Midnight, How Many More demand, Wood invested in a small order of R&B
Randy Wood, later to found the highly successful Years, Who Will Be Next, records from a jukebox supplier.
pop-oriented Dot Records in Nashville, was Smokestack Lightning and I bought, I think, 100 records and they were
I Asked For Water (She Gave
running a small record store in 1947 and noticed Me Gasoline) all contemporary R&B at that time they were still
changes in the air. called Race Records. It was on Friday and
I had all the masterpieces, the works of Chopin, by Saturday, the next evening, I had sold all of them.
Beethoven and Bach and all the things I liked in At that time they sold for $1.05 and they were huge
popular music, but no-one ever bought them, he 10 78s, so brittle because just after the war
later recalled. Every customer would come in compound was hard to come by. That was the
and ask for Joe Liggins or Roosevelt Sykes, people fi rst time I heard or even knew what was later
who were in the R&B idiom. called R&B.

FIVE CHESS PIECES Chess Records, founded in Chicago, was home to

JACKIE
BRENSTON AND
HIS DELTA CATS
Rocket 88
(1951)
Mississippi saxman Brenston scored
his biggest hit with Rocket 88 .
Although released on Chess, it was
recorded at Sam Phillips Memphis
Recording Service, and Phillips
astutely used the profits a year later
to start Sun Records.
the blues and R&B. Here are our five essential 45s
MUDDY WATERS
Im Your
Hoochie
Coochie Man
(1954)
This early success for Muddy and
Willie Dixon, features Little Walter
on harmonica and Otis Spann on
piano, virtually a blues
supergroup before the term
existed. The songs stop-start riff
became a blues cliche.
BO DIDDLEY
Bo Diddley
(1955)
Based on a
pre-existing
folk rhythm known as The
Hambone, this adaptation for Bos
debut single was so successful
that its now widely known as The
Bo Diddley Beat and subsequently
borrowed by Buddy Holly, Bruce
Springsteen and George Michael.
CHUCK BERRY
Maybellene
(1955)
Berrys
country
music-inspired debut single
appeared as blues and R&B were
morphing into what would become
rocknroll, and his signature guitar
licks would become the cornerstone
for every young white wannabe
guitar hero.
LITTLE WALTER
My Babe (1960)
From Chess
sister label
Checker, this
was the biggest hit for the man
who wrote the book for amplified
blues harp. Based on a
gospel-blues tune, the number
was inducted into the Blues
Foundation Hall of Fame as a
Classic of Blues Recording in 2008.

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 Dot Records grew from this tiny start to become
internationally successful, with their biggest artist,
Pat Boone, achieving massive global sales by
covering songs first recorded by 'race music' artists.
Another who saw the future around this time
was classical music DJ Alan Freed of Cleveland,
Ohio, who one day spotted white teenagers eagerly
snapping up R&B singles at a local record store and
decided to start promoting this music on the radio.
Freed would become not only a major music biz
entrepreneur, but also one of the first people
to describe the kind of R&B enjoyed by white kids
as rocknroll.
Just as the roots of Dot were nurtured by the
emerging black musicians, so too was the label
which has become synonymous with 50s rocknroll
and rockabilly Sun Records of Memphis.
Phillips, who founded Sun in 1952, famously once
declared: If I could fi nd a white man with the
Negro sound and the Negro feel, I could make a
billion dollars.
On his way to finding that white man, however,
he was happy to record local black musicians, who
he mostly found on Beale Street, where, he claimed,
there was a guitar on every corner or someone
playing a lard can with a broomstick.
When, in 1951, Phillips had fi rst encountered
Howlin Wolf, he apparently declared: This is for
me! This is where the soul of man never dies, and
decided to record the Wolf. He had already put
B.B. King, Roscoe Gordon and Joe Willie Wilkins
to tape when Howlin Wolf, on 14 May, 1951,
VR30.electricblues.indd 29
Randy Wood, president of Dot Records, talks during the Dot Records banquet
Getty
at Disc Jockey Convention / Grand Ole Opry Birthday Celebration in 1958
recorded How Many More Years and Baby Ride
With Me (Riding In The Moonlight) during his first
session at Phillips studio.
When Presleys Phillips had an arrangement whereby he sent
career took recordings from his studio to Chess in Chicago and,
o, Sun turned when brothers Phil and Leonard heard these demos,
they asked Phillips to undertake a full recording
to the rapidly session with Howlin Wolf.
expanding white At this second session, in July 1951, Wolf recorded
Moanin At Midnight and How Many More Years.
audience and Chess released the single two months later and by
began recording November, it crashed into the Billboard R&B chart
Top 10. Understandably seduced by Chess, Wolf
mostly moved to Chicago in 1953.
rocknroll It was also in 1953 that New Orleans blues
musician Guitar Slim recorded The Things That I
Elvis Presley walked into Used To Do, prominently featuring an electric
the Sun Studios in 1954 guitar solo with distorted overtones which became
and started recording a a major R&B hit in 1954. Chosen as one of The Rock
rendition of bluesman
Arthur Big Boy Crudups And Roll Hall Of Fames 500 Songs That Shaped
Thats All Right Sam Rock And Roll, it also contributed to the
Phillips knew he was on to development of soul music.
something special
Meanwhile, back in Memphis, Phillips was
becoming frustrated that white teenagers clearly
liked this music: But were not sure whether they
ought to. So I got to thinking how many records
you could sell if you could find white performers
who could play and sing in this same exciting,
alive way?
Sams question was answered when Elvis Presley
walked into his studio on 26 June, 1954.
His first recording sessions were unsatisfactory
but when he started into a rendition of bluesman
Arthur Big Boy Crudups Thats All Right, Phillips
knew he had something special.
When Presleys career took off, Sun turned to the
rapidly expanding white audience and recording
mostly rocknroll.
This was where electric guitar techniques such
as distortion, power chords and string bending
began, without which rocknroll, psychedelia, rock,
heavy metal and all of their sub-genres would never
Getty
have existed.
ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 29
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 BREAKING THE BLUES
FROM BACKING UP JOHN LEE HOOKER
AND T-BONE WALKER TO FOUNDING THE
BLUESBREAKERS, JOHN MAYALL HAS EARNED
HIS TITLE AT THE GODFATHER OF BRITISH
BLUES. HE TELLS VINTAGE ROCK ABOUT BEING
AT THE HEART OF THE ORIGINAL BRITISH
BLUES BOOM BY DAVID WEST
ow 83-years-old, John Mayall is
not so much a pillar of the British
blues scene as its bedrock,
foundation and some sort of
university that specialises in training
future stars to boot. When youre
writing a blues record, you want to pick
subjects that you can talk about and
something that you know all about, says
Mayall. It all comes from your own
personal experience and you build it all
from there. Theres nothing fake about it,
its all real stories or pipe dreams.
Born in Macclesfield in 1933, Mayall spent three
years in the army, including a stint in Korea, before
returning to the UK where, in 1963, he moved down
to London to pursue a career in music. And there was
only one thing he wanted to play. I was listening to
blues music from about 1945/46 onwards, so it was
always in my life, he says. The BBC had Jazz Club,
one programme per week where they would play jazz
and blues. It was mainly jazz, but theyre all
interconnected. It was American music so you had
30 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30
VR30.johnmayall.indd 30
access to it in that respect but mainly music was
distributed through record collectors. In Manchester,
which was the nearest big city, there was only one
record store, that I can remember, where you could go
in and listen to what was new and then use your
pocket money to buy whatever 78 took your fancy.
FROM THE MISSISSIPPI DELTA TO MANCHESTER
Manchester is long way from the Mississippi Delta,
Chicago and New Orleans, but the music reached out
across the Atlantic to take root in Mayalls heart. It
was pretty easy to get hold of, he says of feeding his
fascination. British labels put out the Chess
catalogue. There was plenty to choose from but in
addition to that there were magazines where you
could get American records sent over. As long as you
knew what you were looking for, you could have more
than enough to go along with. There was a magazine
called Vintage Jazz Mart which had a lot of blues
stuff and American records. From the mid-40s
Brunswick, the British jazz label that brought Bing
Crosbys crooning to the UK, was releasing blues cuts,
including recordings by Sleepy John Estes and Louis
Jordan. The short-live Jazz Collector label released
songs by Lead Belly and Blind Lemon Jefferson in the
early-50s, while the Vogue label was a flagbearer for
blues and R&B in the UK. Their impressive collection
of 78s included tracks like Wynonie Harris Bloodshot
Eyes and Lovin Machine, Big Bill Broonzys In The
Evenin and Back Water Blues, John Lee Hookers
Whistlin And Moanin Blues, and Muddy Waters
Honey Bee, Long Distance Call and Rollin Stone
Blues. Thanks to Vogue the likes of Big Mama
Thornton and Earl Bostic found their way into British
record shops, while over in the States, labels like
Aladdin, Imperial, RPM, Vee-jay and Chess gave
26/05/2017 13:54
 Getty

British blues legend John Mayall live on

stage at New Yorks Colden Center in 1970

ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 31

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 BREAKING THE BLUES
the blues a home. The Chess catalogue was one of the
mainstays where youd find out who were artists on
that label, so that was a good source, but there were
lots of other labels, Excello, Cobra. Youd find a record
label that had a particular artist and theyd have other
artists that youd check out, says Mayall.
For many years blues was almost inseparable from
jazz in the minds of the British music press. The
main ones were New Musical Express and Melody
Maker, says Mayall about where he found out about
his favourite artists. Melody Maker was probably the
first one, that was where it all got talked about and
the way the word spread. There were other
magazines, R&B newsletters, quite a few publications
that gave you information, Jazz Journal, Jazz
Untitled-1 32
Monthly off the top of my head, I cant think of them
all but there was plenty of information you could go
to, to find out what was going on and to find out about
people whose music you appreciated.
Once Mayall moved to London and founded the
Bluesbreakers, he was the epicentre of a network of
top blues players. The list of people who played with
Mayall includes Eric Clapton, Mick Fleetwood, Mick
Taylor, Aynsley Dunbar, Andy Fraser, John McVie, but
in the decades before he made the decision to go pro,
his passion was very much a solitary pursuit. Nobody
was really interested in jazz and blues as I can
remember, he says. The music was everything to me
and all that mattered. As long as I could hear what I
wanted to hear.
It was people like Muddy Waters, John Lee
Hooker, T-Bone Walker, Howlin Wolf, they all started
coming out at the same time, Sonny Boy Williamson,
the list is quite endless. There was definitely a
resurgence of interest in American blues, mainly the
stuff out of Chicago. Lightnin Hopkins was coming
out of Texas, but as English people who didnt have
Getty
access to it [live], we were record collectors and that
was our connection.
Larry Taylor (bass) and TRANSATLANTIC BLUES
John Mayall of John In September 1951, Big Bill Broonzy came to the UK
Mayalls Bluesbreakers
on stage in Denmark, on tour, the first of a slowly growing wave of blues
in 1971 artists to cross the pond. However, on his visits
Broonzy played folk blues and his performance was
promoted by The London Jazz Club. Electric blues
didnt reach these shores in its live form until Muddy
Waters arrived in 1958 with Otis Spann, brought over
for a run of dates by Chris Barber, the trombonist and
bandleader whose importance in planting the seeds of
the blues in Britain is hard to overstate. Having
grown accustomed to the folk blues of Big Bill
John Mayall performs Broonzy, there were listeners and critics within the
at the North Sea Jazz
Festival in The Hague, British blues scene that didnt take to Waters electric
Netherlands, in 1998 Chicago blues. There was a faction of people who
were blues purists who didnt like what he was doing
when he was playing electric, but I think that was a
small per centage of people who felt like that, says
Mayall. They were die-hard traditionalists who
didnt want any change, but most people just went
along with it. If thats the way the artist wants to play,
thats what he should be playing.
One quirk of the laws governing live performance at
the time meant that American artists coming to the
UK couldnt bring their backing bands with them,
necessitating the hiring of local musicians. Mayall
said: I caught plenty of people and played in the
backing group for Sonny Boy Williamson, John Lee
Hooker, T-Bone Walker, Freddie King. He was one of
my heroes. The agency brought those guys over for
British tours, filled all the dates in for them, and they
would play with English backing groups. So like I say,
I was one of the first to be able to do that. Chris
Barber had gone before me. He backed all the people
that he brought over, Muddy Waters, Little Walter, so
there was a lot of activity there.
It might have been a matter of necessity that forced
Getty
the American bluesmen to play with a bunch of white
26/05/2017 15:38

Getty
boys from Britain, but it allowed the Brits to learn
from the best, whether they were tackling jump blues
with T-Bone Walker or Texas blues with Freddie
King. He was a great guy, says Mayall about King.
When he came over to my flat in London he was very
impressed with my record collection which really was
quite extensive. I played him a bit of Jimi Hendrix
and Eric Clapton just to see what his reaction was to
those, which were new to him. He really liked Erics
playing but he didnt really care for Jimi, he thought it
was way too busy, it wasnt playing blues. But
whatever. He was very impressed with Eric and Peter
Green. He really enjoyed the trips he made over to
England and I got to play with him a few times which
was really a big thrill.
While electric blues and R&B took over it didnt
mean the American bluesmen were cranking up the
output, a lesson that wasnt lost on Mayall. The main
thing I learned from them was that you didnt have to
play loud in order to get across, he says. The use of
dynamics and not playing at full volume was one of
the main lessons that I learned.
If a British player like Mayall was employed to back
up a visiting blues dignitary, it was taken as given they
would have their chops together and know the canon,
for rehearsals were not on the agenda. None of that,
confirms Mayall. If we were booked to back them up
they assumed we were familiar enough with their
work. John Lee Hooker never called anything out. He
didnt even play a 12-bar structure so you had to be on
your toes. T-Bone Walker was a bit more business-like
VR30.johnmayall.indd 33
and he had proper songs, but we knew all the songs
that he wanted to play. They were very easy.
Everything was very easy. Blues is a language that
were all familiar with, feel comfortable with.
BIRTH OF THE BRITISH BLUES BOOM
Moreover, it was a shared language and a shared
experience between the American and British
musicians, regardless of whether they were black or
white. Back in the States, segregation was still very
much in force, so the Americans visiting the UK
encountered a different way of life which many found
appealing. In America, it was a divided society. Black
musicians played to black audiences, but when they
came to Europe they were treated like gods. That was
such a big thrill for them. Memphis Slim moved to
France once he got a taste of European audiences,
Champion Jack Dupree, there was quite an exodus of
people who moved out to Europe where they were
really appreciated.
The audiences that embraced the American blues
stars in the UK and Europe were overwhelmingly
white and when Mayall tours now, whether in Britain
or the US, he finds his fan base is still predominantly
white despite the fact his music is rooted in the songs
of the black American experience. I dont think thats
really changed over the years, he says. Thats always
been the way right from the very beginning of British
blues right from the early-60s. If youve ever been to
any of those clubs or concerts, you wont see too many
black people. Theyre more interested in putting that
I ALWAYS FELT THAT THE BEST
BLUES SINGERS WERE ALWAYS
SINGING ABOUT PERSONAL
EVENTS IN THEIR LIVES
John Mayall backed historical connection behind them. Theyre more
blues greats, John Lee interested in rap music or whatever, I dont know.
Hooker, T-Bone
Walker, Eddie Boyd Too big a subject to get into.
and Sonny Boy Mayall recalls the heady days of sweaty clubs,
Williamson on their saying they were filled with: The usual crowd of
first English club tours
blues audiences that were packing the clubs for
everybody that was on the scene. It was a very vital
part of the British rock audiences and the club scene,
it was alive and well.
The Flamingo and the Marquee were pretty
cramped situations, there wasnt much room for
dancing. The circuits we were playing all over the
country and across Europe were clubs that catered
to blues audiences and blues music. There was quite
a network all over the place. It was all down to
promoters really. They would book whoever they
thought would fill their clubs. I dont think there was
any shortage of venues. The British blues boom was
on, so to speak.
ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 33
26/05/2017 13:55
 BREAKING THE BLUES

SOWING THE SEEDS FOR AN INVASION

Alongside the Flamingo and the Marquee, the blues
circuit included the Feldman Swing Club which
became The 100 Club in 1964, Klooks Kleek in West
Hampstead where Mayall recorded a live album in
December 1964, The Crawdaddy Club in Richmond,
Eel Pie Island in Twickenham, and The Ealing Club.
Alexis Korner and Cyril Davies Blues Incorporated
were the house band at The Ealing Club and Mick
Jagger was a regular guest sitting-in with the group,
which drew him to the attention of Brian Jones.
The network formed by the club circuit was the
breeding ground for the future of rocknroll, although
at the outset the bands that would spearhead the

Getty
British Invasion of the US later in the 1960s were
firmly rooted in the jazz and blues scene. When The
Rolling Stones released their first album in April 1964,
alongside three original compositions there were nine
covers of songs including cuts originally recorded by TIME GOES SO FAST WHEN
YOURE HAVING A GREAT TIME.
Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley and Gene
Allison. British rock was built directly on American

ITS A THRILL WHEN WE GET

blues and brought that music to new audiences. In
general I think the people who made records and got
in the hit parade were people who started off playing
blues and got more into the rock direction, people like
the Stones, Spencer Davis Group, The Animals, but
they still played the blues clubs, says Mayall. The
Rolling Stones were the first ones to break on to the
American scene. Prior to that The Beatles had opened
the door to British rock music. Then of course Jimi
Hendrix, one thing led to another, hence in America
there was a great interest not just in British rock-blues
people but rock players. It opened the door for a lot of
musical change.
Mayall formed the first version of The
Bluesbreakers in 1963 and the group released their
debut single, Crawling Up The Hill, in May 1964.
TALKING ABOUT
BACK ON THE ROAD...
Mayall pictured Five-plus decades and more than 60 albums later,
performing live in 2016 Mayall is still writing and recording his own music. I
he was inducted into
The Blues Hall of Fame always felt that the best of the blues singers that I
later that year heard on record or played with personally, were
always singing about personal events in their lives,
he says. I always thought rather than do cover songs
I would write my own songs about things that were
happening in my life. Thats always been the bedrock
of what Ive thought about the music, rather than
playing other peoples music and trying to make
carbon copies of what they were doing.
Mayall will be hitting the road in the UK in October

TALK ABOUT THAT

and November to support his new album of original
music, Talk About That. Asked to compare playing
live and working in the studio, he replies: Theyre
John Mayall shows the pretenders how its done on his new release
both very different things. I obviously enjoy the thrill
Talk About That. The Eagles Joe Walsh lends his inestimable guitar
skills to The Devil Must Be Laughing and Cards On The Table. of playing live, theres nothing like that when youve
Apparently, he knew the people who own House Of Blues got an audience and youre communicating through
Recording Studio where we recorded, so he made a request to come the music, but on the other hand, its a completely
down and hopefully sit in with us, says Mayall. I wasnt really different thing when youre in the studio and youre
familiar with his work, I just knew him as a rock musician, so it was
putting down music thats going to be a permanent
somewhat of a surprise to me.
The album is much more diverse record of what you do. So they are both very
than just a collection of 12-bar blues. stimulating and very enjoyable, but they are in my
Gimme Some Of That Gumbo has a New mind two different ways of making music. I wouldnt
Orleans second-line marching rhythm, be able to choose which I enjoy most.
while the title cut is deeply funky.
Having retired the Bluesbreakers moniker, Mayalls
When I put an album together I want
to make sure that track-for-track band features Greg Rzab on bass and Jay Davenport
theyre all very different in their on drums. Theyre both from Chicago, so they
approach so you never get bored, definitely know what the blues is all about, theyve
says Mayall. I like to think of an been brought up on it, says Mayall. Weve been
album as a musical journey, where
playing together for a little over 10 years or so. Time
you start at one point and go through
all these different moods and make it goes so fast when youre having a great time. Its
a whole experience. a thrill when we get back on the road and get to
play together.

34 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30

VR30.johnmayall.indd 34 26/05/2017 13:55

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 INTERVIEW
G R A H A M
F E N TON
A ROCKABILLY LEGEND
JACK WATKINS TALKS TO THE MATCHBOX MAINMAN WHO HAS BEEN
AT THE FOREFRONT OF THE ROCKABILLY REVIVAL FOR 45 YEARS
O
n hearing the fondly familiar
opening bars of the Eddie Cochran
favourite RocknRoll Blues on
Graham Fentons new A Rockabilly
Legend album, a nostalgic
tightening in the throat is surely
forgivable in British rockabilly fans
with a sentimental disposition and a sense of
history. Thats not just because Cochran was
the first American rocker British youngsters
took to in a big way on his tragic tour with
Gene Vincent in 1960. Its also because Graham
Fenton has been part of the UK rockabilly scene
since the late-60s, and has been making records
for 45 years. His greatest success came as the
Matchbox frontman, one of the entry points for
those of us discovering the likes of Cochran
and Vincent at the end of the 1970s. And then
theres the man playing the guitar on the track,
none other than Darrel Higham, whos done
so much to continue carrying the torch. Its
maybe over-egging it to say that theres almost
a nostalgic tone in his strumming and a wistful
note in Grahams singing, but there are so many
associations, so many memories, its no wonder
the track creates a tingle.
The production on the song, much sparser
than the Cochran version, wasnt how Graham
first envisaged it. I was in the studio while
Darrel wasnt around, and me and the engineer
started experimenting. I can do backing vocals
36 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30
VR30.grahamfenton.indd 36
and I put down some harmonies, but Darrel
walked in and said: Why dont we leave it raw,
as its a different tone? and I guess it works.
The album was recorded at Darrels studio in
a converted barn near Basingstoke, the songs
made up of new compositions by him and
ex-Flying Saucers bass player Pete Pritchard,
and older songs. Released on Darrels Foot
Tapping Records, both he and Pritchard, who
provide the instrumental backing along with
Dave Priseman on rhythm guitar and Steve
Rushton on drums, are superb writers of
tough, modernish rockabilly. Ring Dang Do,
200 Pounds Of Hard Time and Another Bar
Room Death are good examples, alongside the
more traditional rockabilly of Hard Hearted
Woman, and Darrel contributes some blistering
guitar runs across the 12 tracks. Graham clearly
enjoyed the experience of working with these
experienced, multi-talented players. Darrel
said: Whats a ring dang do when we were
working on that song. We just said: Listen to the
bloody lyrics! he laughs.
Of the older material, theres a feisty revival
of Skeets McDonalds Heartbreakin Mama,
Grahams eager tenor perfectly capturing the
energy of the original. Make Ready For Love was
an Otis Blackwell song hed wanted to record for
years, having heard The Vipers effort as a boy.
The backing vocals from The Roomates are a
welcome bonus.
26/05/2017 13:13
 GR A H AM
F E N TON

Rider In The Sky! Graham

Fenton will be motorbiking it
to the Teddy Boy Stomp,
Skegness, on 28 July with
rockabilly revivalists Matchbox

ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 37

VR30.grahamfenton.indd 37 26/05/2017 13:13

 INTERVIEW
Matchbox are as much a
part of the fabric of the
rocknroll story as the
original stars...
The track out of the left field and among
the best and most unexpected on the album
is the Marty Robbins number You Dont Owe
Me A Thing. Its presence is a clue to Grahams
musical upbringing. Like a lot of second
generation rockers who should normally have
grown up on The Beatles and The Rolling
Stones, Graham came from a close-knit West
London family and he loved playing his parents
78s, everything from Bing Crosby to country
and boogie woogie, and most importantly,
Bill Haley And The Comets. It gave him a
broader appreciation of popular music than the
everything-stems-from-the-blues beat boys of
the mid-60s. l love Marty Robbins but I also
grew up with Johnnie Ray because my mum
liked him, and I later discovered that hed also
done You Dont Owe Me A Thing, he says. As
Ive grown older I really appreciate what Ray
did. There are some great clips of him where
he slaps the mike stand down. He had a bit of
attitude about him, and such a voice and stage
presence. If you listen to Charlie Gracie you can
hear Rays influence. Charlie told me Ray was
of his heroes
Graham cut his performing teeth on the
underground revival scene of the late-60s,
working with Freddie Fingers Lee. After his
jazz-inclined elder brother and bass player Ken
set him up with his own band, which included
Carlo Little, the Stones first drummer, he
then joined The Houseshakers as lead singer
in 1970, just as they were about to tour France
with Gene Vincent. Right from his early days
listening to Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley and Carl
Perkins, it had been Vincents unique voice that
had made the biggest impression on Graham,
leaving a huge imprint on his own vocal style,
and the memory of working with his idol
remains vivid: I was only a kid and although
people said he was a bit mean, he kind of
38 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30
VR30.grahamfenton.indd 38
The Ace Cafe
CLASSIC
MATCHBOX
Cherry Red Records have done the band
proud on the reissue front, re-releasing
their three best Magnet albums on CD,
along with bonus tracks, as well as The
Magnet Records Singles Collection, a
32-track double CD, the first ever
collation of all the bands A- and
B-Sides for the label. The Magnet debut
album Matchbox is probably the best of
the lot, containing the singles Black
Slacks, Rockabilly Rebel and Buzz Buzz
A Diddle It, plus another Matchbox
favourite, Hurricane, with its buzzsaw
guitar plus, among the bonus tracks,
Palisades Park. Their cut of Buddy
Hollys Tell Me How was testimony to
the bands feel for classic rocknroll.
The album also captured Matchboxs
sense of fun and love of country music,
including a superb version of Jerry
Reeds Lord Mr Ford. That love was in
evidence again on the strong follow-up
album Midnite Dynamos on tracks like
Southern Boys. But the instrumental
Stranger In Nevada was like something
out of a Clint Eastwood western. The
third album Flying Colours maintained
the bands always high musical
standard, but the drift towards pop
was increasingly evident.
looked after me. I had to pinch myself sitting in
these all-night cafes after gigs eating bacon and
eggs with him.
ROCKABILLY REBEL
The Houseshakers backed Vincent in the UK
in 1971 and Graham, the proud owner of a 1959
Chevrolet, chauffeured him around. Drawing
on his own biker background, he took him
to the legendary Ace Caf, just past the old
railway bridges that cross Londons North
Circular Road, at that moment in its pre-
restoration guise as a tyre factory. A lot of the
gigs had turned sour by the end because he was
so ill, Graham recalls, but he saw him one last
time in London the following year when his
life was falling apart, and he was embroiled
in a court case.
He was being driven in this little Austin
car, and he just rolled down the window and
said Hey, man, no hard feelings. He looked
so ill. I shook his hand, and three weeks later
I heard hed fled back to the States and died
in his parents home of a haemorrhage. So, for
long time after that Id do these tribute shows
to him. And after Steve Aynsley, who ran the
fan club, managed to track down the surviving
members of the Blue Caps, I ended up singing
with them. In February, along with Aynsley,
hell return to the Ace Caf to do one of his
much-admired Gene Vincent tribute evenings.
The Houseshakers, featuring Terry Clemson
on guitar, were one of the best early bands of
the British rocknroll revival. Their recording
legacy can be heard on an excellent album
they made for Contour in 1972, Demolition
Rock. Although reliant on old material, its
delivered in an authentic rockabilly spirit,
with similarities to the contemporary, likewise
all too often forgotten Shakin Stevens and
the Sunsets. Graham, with Clemson, went
on to form the marginally less successful
The Hellraisers, who also cut an album for
Contour, Remember When? But it was with
Matchbox that Graham enjoyed his commercial
breakthrough as the rockabilly revival started
gaining wider exposure.
Matchbox were another of the rootsy
rockabilly bands, along with the likes of Crazy
Cavan and the Rhythm Rockers, who were
starting to gain a wider exposure as the 70s
rolled on, in the wake of more gimmicky outfits
like Showaddywaddy. Although theyd been
around since 1971, it wasnt until 1979 that the
classic five-piece which is still together
today crystallised round Fenton, Steve
Bloomfield (lead guitarist and songwriter),
Fred Poke (bass), Gordon Scott (rhythm guitar)
and Jimmie Redhead (drums).
Signed to Magnet Records, their
breakthrough single, the Steve Bloomfield-
26/05/2017 13:13

penned Rockabilly Rebel, made number
18 on the UK pop charts that year. With its
atmospherically droning biker intro, it became
one of the anthems of the revival era, pitching
the band onto Tops of the Pops. For a lot of
rocknroll diehards, this step into the wider
world of commercial pop was a step too
far, but it was a key moment of recognition.
The continuing popularity of 50s-inspired
rocknroll and rockabilly today owes much to
the way Matchbox attracted a new generation
to the music, and the bands reputation spread
worldwide. I did Viva Las Vegas recently and
even Americans were coming up with vinyl
copies of the record, says Graham.
For the follow-up single, the band revived
Freddie Cannons Stateside hit from 1961 Buzz
Buzz A-Diddle-It, which stalled just outside
the Top 20. Less commercially successful was
an excellent recording of Cannons Palisades
Park, released under the band name Cyclone.
Steve recorded that with a mandolin which
was put through a Leslie speaker to get the old
funfair effect, recalls Graham. I sent a copy to
Freddie Cannon and he was quite chuffed with
it. It sparked a friendship which is still going
37 years later, Graham being delighted to catch
up with him on his recent States trip.
Midnite Dynamos, another Bloomfield
original with a rumbling biker lead-in, gave the
band their biggest hit, reaching No.14, though
that was then topped by their version of the
Crickets When You Ask About Love, which
made No.4, their biggest UK seller, shifting
half a million units.
ROCKIN ALL OVER THE WORLD
Matchbox were a classic band, and the quality
of their albums, the interpretations of old
songs, the instrumentals and the original
material by Bloomfield, shines through
after all these years. Yet theres no doubt the
records got poppier as time went on. All the
companies at that time were trying to get a bit
of commercialism into it, Graham admits. Our
albums were well-produced, but the album
Midnite Dynamos cost 50,000, which was a
lot of money in 1980, whereas the Rockabilly
Rebel album had only cost 20,0000. Our third
Magnet album, Flying Colours, was further
away from the sound we wanted, but we went
along with it because we wanted to continue
our success. It was the same with The Jets,
Shakin Stevens and Crazy Cavan. Whatever
they say, they all wanted to get a hit, and tried
to do a commercial single. But deep down
inside, of course, youve still got your roots.
As the hits dwindled, the band split in 1985,
but they reformed in 1995, and continue to gig
intermittently. London fans were treated to a
rare gig at the Kingsmeadow Stadium in South
London last autumn. That was brilliant,
VR30.grahamfenton.indd 39
Darrel Higham and
Graham taking a break
during the recording
of A Rockbilly Legend
LEGEND
If Graham Fenton and Darrel Higham
working together isnt fine enough, a
few years back Graham got together
with Western Star genius Alan Wilson
to make a little masterpiece of an
album Raging Heart. Building on his
rocker image, Fenton let rip across a
range of old chestnuts, including
rocknroll, R&B, country, cajun and
pop. With the vocalist on top form, so
was Wilsons guitar on rockers like
Three Months
To Kill and Jet Black Machine, and the
choice of tracks was perfectly paced,
including Rosie Flores Crying Over
You, Chuck Willis What Ya Gonna
Do and even a couple of Joe Meek
compositions Just Too Late and Try
Once More. Excellent.
GR A H AM
F E N TON
The Ace Cafe
remembers Graham. There were loads of
people from London I hadnt seen for years
as most our gigs are now in Finland, Sweden
and Germany. It was bit of a cheer-up for
me, because Id just had my brother Kens
funeral, and the crowd kind of took me under
their wing.
Of course, the real prize is to get the band
back in the studio, but that looks a distant
hope. Alan Wilson and several other people
have tried, but its getting everyone in there.
Its the kind of thing that might happen,
Graham says, tantalisingly.
Meanwhile, as a solo performer, he continues
to tour the world. In the US, they call Graham
the original rockabilly rebel, in France he
is le legend, a last link with their beloved
Gene Vincent. Theres often been something
grudging or dismissive about the way bands of
the rockabilly revival have been treated in this
country, but Graham Fenton and Matchbox
are now as much a part of the fabric of the
rocknroll story as the original stars they
modelled themselves on, and its time that
was properly recognised.
Matchbox are performing at the Teddy Boy
Stomp, Skegness, on 28 July, and the Jive
Weekend, Folkestone on 9 December
ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 39
26/05/2017 15:23
 40 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30

VR30.nickcuran.indd 40 26/05/2017 14:10


Almost
Famous
Remembering Nick Curran
1977 THE STORY OF THE ROCKNROLL BADASS
WHOSE TALENT BURNED BRIGHT, BUT
2
201 SADLY LEFT US FAR TOO SOON BY PADDY WELLS
ick Curran should have been
a star. And not the shallow,
disposable kind of celebrity that
swathes of todays questionable TV
talent shows perpetuate, but a bona-
fide, international rocknroll star.
Mercurial and prodigious talent?
Check. Youth and good looks? Check.
Admiration and support of his
peers in a city awash with serious
musicianship? Check. A growing and
constantly evolving body of work that
effortlessly blended blues, rockabilly,
punk, rocknroll? Check. It all seemed
to be in place and worldwide success
just an arms length away. Unless tragedy
derailed it.
Nicholas Michael Curran was born
in Biddeford, Maine on 30 September,
Helen H. Richardson/Getty Images
1977, growing up in nearby Sanford.
Music always featured prominently in his
working-class family, and by the age of
three, Curran was already enthusiastically
hitting the drumset. His father Mike
himself an established musician fronting
his own blues band Mike Curran and
VR30.nickcuran.indd 41
Nick
Curran
The Tremors encouraged his son to
learn the guitar by playing along to the
likes of The Fabulous Thunderbirds and
Duke Robillard. The astonishing musical
intuition that many have subsequently
spoken of was evident from the outset,
Curran learning licks shown to him by
his father and playing them back almost
instantly. By the time he was nine, he was
already adept at the instrument, playing
in his fathers band when he was just 15. It
was around this period that fellow Maine
resident and harmonica virtuoso Jason
Ricci first encountered Curran on the
local music scene.
I met him at an open mic session that
neither one of us were supposed to be at,
as we were under-age, laughs Ricci.
But the band who were running the
jam knew who we were and wanted us
to be there. Our friendship was arranged
by older blues musicians we were told
we should meet and that we should play
together. We didnt really have a choice
in that. We were thrown together at a
young age, being told well you both
ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 41
26/05/2017 14:10
 Ana P. Bosque (CC BY 2.0)
Through music he will live
forever: Nick sadly passed
away on 6 October, 2012,
at the age of 35
play music you should hang out together.
Basically you guys are gonna get up and
play together, because none of us guys
wanna play with you because youre too
young and not good enough yet. But
neither one of us wanted to do that, we
wanted to play with the good guys!
Even as a kid, he was already into
You felt him coursing through
whatever he was playing, all the
time. This indomitable spirit...
rockabilly, there was a band in town
called the Memphis Mafia, Nick was
already playing with those guys too.
The punk thing came later for him. But
we listened to a lot of blues stuff like
Thunderbirds, Jimmie
Vaughan, James Cotton,
Slim Harpo, Little
Walter, Magic Sam,
Albert King, B.B. King.
But heres the thing
the kid could play
anything. Anything. He
lived in Sanford I dont
think there was anything
else for him to do! I dont
42 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30
VR30.nickcuran.indd 42
think he cared about anything else that
wasnt related to music.
Although deeply in thrall to blues
and vintage rocknroll music, Curran
was equally influenced by bands such as
The Misfits, Guns N Roses and AC/DC.
Aged just 19, he left Maine, touring with
rockabilly stalwart Ronnie Dawson.
HEY! HO! LETS GO
Word of Currans talent was already
spreading beyond his local scene, and
when Dallas-based neo-rockabilly
doyenne Kim Lenz found herself
in need a of a new
guitarist, he came highly
recommended.
Having just released
her first album with her
band in 1998, Lenz was
eager to get out on the
road, but her current
The cover to Nick Currans 2000
album Fixin Your Head
guitarist was unable to commit to touring.
Sean Mencher, at that time living in
Maine and playing with rockabilly outfit
High Noon, had seen Curran performing
around their home town and was
impressed enough to pass on his name.
We flew him in as we were about to
start touring, rehearsed with him and
that decided it alright, youre staying!,
remembers Lenz.
I ended up kicking the other guy out
of the band the next day. We were on the
road for about two years straight, doing
200 shows a year at least in 1998-99.
Nick is not like anybody else. He just
had such a crazy energy. When we did a
show, it was always 150 per cent. He was
able to bring in all of his influences, blues,
punk, whatever.
Even though we were doing
traditional rockabilly music, he was able
to filter those things in. Always with his
own stamp on it. Some blues players seem
to play almost by rote, but Nick really did
put himself into his music.
Its something that very few people
can do the way he did. You felt him
coursing through whatever he was
playing, all the time. This indomitable
spirit that could not be contained.
He was born to be an entertainer,
thats for sure.
26/05/2017 14:10
 Ronnie James Weber with whom
Curran would later play alongside in
Nick
Curran
The Fabulous Thunderbirds and their
own punk band Deguello remembers
seeing a 21-year-old Curran for the first
time when he was part of Kim Lenz
and The Jaguars. I was sitting at the
bar I had gone to see Rosie Flores, and
hadnt heard of Kim before. And Im
thinking thats weird, I never heard a
rockabilly guy start throwing in Lightnin
Hopkins before, and I made some
comment along those lines to him at the
bar, but it wasnt until years later that we
ended up in the same band. I thought he
was crazy back then mixing those styles,
but it was perfect!

PRINCE OF THE PUNKS

Currans reputation as an outstanding
rockabilly musician was now unassailable
even at such a remarkably young
age but it was the release of his solo
records that really made everybody
sit up and take notice. His 2000 debut
Fixin Your Head was swiftly followed by
Nitelife Boogie in 2001, both comprising
of various covers and his original
compositions. Its hard to believe they
were not recorded sometime in the 1950s,
such was the level of playing and Currans
fastidious attention to how the albums
were recorded, always with vintage
equipment. As Jason Ricci explains,
nobody was concerned that these albums
might be derivative, because nobody
else was capable of making a record so
authentic to that period. Alongside his
Jordi Vidal/Redferns/Getty

own material, Curran reworked songs

such as Women and Cadillacs by Doc
Starkes & His Nite Riders and Im Glad,
Im Glad by Lloyd Price that crackled
with his unique intensity while retaining
the classic sound of the era.
Speaking to AllMusic in 2010, Curran
said he wanted to take that early sound
and fire it up with some modern punk
urgency. All those old blues guys that I
love have that. They have that attitude
like a punk rock band. Like Howlin Wolf
and Little Richard, that stuff is like punk
rock but in the 50s.
As well as the
universally acclaimed
studio albums, Curran
was rapidly cementing
a reputation as a
captivating live
performer not to be
missed. Now living in
Austin full time, he
was regularly packing
the house at the
citys famous Continental Club and at
established events such as Viva Las Vegas
Fest, his magnetic stage presence and
incendiary guitar chops ensuring that
every audience remembered his name.
Kim Lenz recalls: He was obsessed with
tone. So many guitar
players these days dont
think about tone much,
but that was a big thing
for him always working
toward getting the right
tone. When players look
right over that, Im like
Nick Curran released his second
album, Nitelife Boogie, in 2001
Curran on stage at
Spains Festival
International de Blues
de Cerdanyola at Parc
del Turonet in 2009
do you even play guitar?! Nicks tone
was always perfect, he just wanted to
entertain people the best way that he
could, it was in his blood...
He was ferocious.
WHOLE LOTTA SHAKIN GOIN ON
By 2002, Curran had signed with blues
label Blind Pig where he would record a
further two albums, the first of which
Doctor Velvet was released in 2003. If
his previous albums jolted listeners awake
and brazenly announced a burgeoning
new talent, this is perhaps where Curran
truly hit his stride. Jimmie Vaughan one
of his earliest guitar heroes guests on
this record, indicative of the respect he

ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 43

VR30.nickcuran.indd 43 26/05/2017 14:10

 Nick
Curran
Whenever he
made music, he
was making it
for real
Nick Curran performs in concert with
The Blasters during the Texas
Rockabilly Revival Festival in 2010
was already commanding.
The title track, an edgy
version of the Doc Starkes &
His Nite Riders song, seemed
to suit Curran perfectly,
an audacious statement of
arrival ready to shake up the
blues scene. The following
album in 2004, Player!, saw
Curran playing with yet more
influences, a horn section
and his fluid guitar lines
lending more of a jazz and R&B flavour
to the record. Covers of songs by garage-
rockers The Sonics, country legend Hank
Williams and punk-rockers The Stooges
were sprinkled across both records, never
sounding forced or remotely incongruous.
Curran clearly saw a throughline
connecting many types of music and had
no qualms about mixing colours to make
it his own.
He told AllMusic: The way I do
things, I always want to do something
where theres no way someone could
give me a hard time about it like do it
with conviction.
You are going to like this whether you
want to or not. So, when I do a song like
that I want it to be known that this is this
song that you probably would hate, but
you like my version of it.
44 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30
Untitled-2 44
In 2002 Nick Curran, having formed the Nitelifes, signed with
blues label Blind Pig and released Doctor Velvet in 2003 and
Player! In 2004
Im trying to show people there is a
similarity between this and that and that
is where they were coming from. This
might be what it would sound like if it
was done back then.
Never one to sit still for long, Curran
disbanded his current recording and
touring band The Nitelifes, and instead
opted to join The Fabulous Thunderbirds,
one of his very favourite bands since
childhood. He appeared on their 2005
record Painted On and stayed with the
legendary Texas blues outfit until 2007.
This is where Thunderbirds bass player
Ronnie James Weber finally played
alongside Curran, all those years after
seeing him tearing up the stage with
Kim Lenz.
Gary Miller/FilmMagic/Getty
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
Like many, Weber also
remembers his ability to
incorporate any style of
playing, despite the visual
image of a punk rocker he had
cultivated during the period he
played with Kim Wilsons band.
Whatever he felt like
throwing in, he would nail it!,
Weber laughs. Howlin Wolf?
No problem, Little Richard? no problem.
It was beautiful! He ate, breathed, drank
everything about music.
For me, he was the throwback to the
real stuff, man. Based on talent, energy
and passion. A genuine artist. I think even
Kim Wilson would tell you that it upped
his game as well he lit a fire under Kims
ass! Young, good-looking, talented. It was
already great with the T-Birds to hear a
white guy like Kim who could sing that
music like that, then Nick comes along
and everyone takes notice. It definitely
helped in my department because Nick
sat up on my side of the stage, so the
pretty girls would be over there! Ha! I
wasnt complaining.
Curran said of his time with The
Thunderbirds: Lets say when I was first
going with the T-Birds, the last thing I
wanted to do was go up there and look
26/05/2017 15:41
 Helen H. Richardson/Getty Images
like Jimmie Vaughan which a lot of
people would try to do. So Im like, well,
if Im gonna play guitar with the T-Birds,
Im gonna have to look like Sid Vicious or
something. Thats what I did and a lot of
people didnt like it. But at the same time,
I was kind of telling people, hey, listen
with your ears, not your eyes. You dont
have to play a 50s Stratocaster and wear
vintage suits to play blues.
Weber and Curran also formed
Deguello while they were both members
of The Thunderbirds, a side-project
that provided an outlet for their punkier
leanings. Some of the material made its
way onto what would become Currans
final record, Reform School Girl.
Released on Eclecto Groove Records
in 2010, its perhaps the point where all
of Currans influences coalesce into one
gloriously indefinable noise. Billy Horton,
Currans bass player and producer of the
album, summed it up as: Little Richard
meets the Ramones.
He wanted the record to sound like
your record player blew up, Horton said.
He loved punk, blues and rockabilly. He
was able to bring in all of those influences
he loved and make a weird Nick stew.
Only he could do that and make it work.
It should have been the record that
elevated Curran from cult status to
VR30.nickcuran.indd 45
worldwide stardom. However, just prior
to the release of the album, he began to
experience pain in his throat and in early
2010 was diagnosed with oral cancer.
That evidently wasnt about to get in
his way and Curran remained positive
and optimistic throughout. For a while
it looked like he would beat the disease,
but in 2011 the cancer returned and was
no longer responding to treatment. He
passed away on 6 October, 2012.
He was the throwback to the real
stuff, man. Based on talent, energy
and passion. A genuine artist...
Austin-based harp player Greg Izor,
who played alongside Curran every week
for two years in a house band called The
Jackalope All-Stars, was among the many
who felt he still had much more to create.
I always felt that Nick was right on the
edge of fully actualising. He was drawing
from so many different things and hed
go through these phases and just absorb
everything, and it all culminated in Nick,
but it felt like he was still growing. It was
hard to see that cut short. Whatever he
was influenced by, he could bring that
Nick
Curran
Nick pictured with close
friend and fellow
Jaguar Kim Lenz
into his own thing immediately. It was
really impressive to see. A master as he
already was, he was still taking in new
stuff all the time. He was great, he was
a monster. Whenever he made music,
he was making it for real, he never
phoned it in. Im glad we were friends
and that I got some time with him.
Kim spoke of his still devoted following:
Every place I go, people wanna talk
to me about Nick. It was hard at the
beginning, but Im finally getting to be ok
with him being gone. He was a real close
friend of mine and I miss him dearly.
Jason Ricci: We all miss him. He
was such an innocent. I know in the
pictures he looks kinda tough and bluesy
all tattooed and punk rock, but he was
actually just a complete music nerd, a
little socially awkward and geeky. He
was like a sponge, he just soaked up
everything that life had to offer. He loved
life... I know that Nicks wildest dreams
came true. Almost.
ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 45
26/05/2017 14:11
 INTERVIEW

O pen for
b u s i ne s s
ONE OF BRITAINS FINEST EXPONENTS
OF ROCKABILLY GUITAR MAKES HIS
LONG-AWAITED RETURN AS A SOLO
ARTIST. AS HELLS HOTEL OPENS
FOR BUSINESS, ITS PROPRIETOR
DARREL HIGHAM TELLS VINTAGE
ROCK ABOUT THE GHOST OF HANK
WILLIAMS, TAKING ROCK N ROLL TO
NEW AUDIENCES, WHY HE DOESNT
BOTHER THE ROCKABILLY PURISTS
AND WHY THEY DONT BOTHER HIM.
BY DAVID WEST
Getty

46 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30

VR30.darrelhigham.indd 46 26/05/2017 12:35

 Darrel
Higham

ROCKABILLY FANS ARE VERY

PASSIONATE AND VERY WELL
INFORMED. THEY KNOW THE MUSIC,
THEY HAVE THEIR HEROES. IM NO
DIFFERENT, IM ALSO A FAN

ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 47

VR30.darrelhigham.indd 47 26/05/2017 12:35

w

INTERVIEW

So Higham set up shop in Embassy
Studios, which he co-owns with Clive
Duffin of Foot Tapping Records. There
was no plan, no theme to the album,
or more than I just wanted to see how many good
20 years, Darrel songs I could come up with and whittle
Higham them down to 10 or 12 tracks. I felt that I
has helped probably wasnt going to get many offers
to keep the to go into another band at the level that
torch burning Id been working at and so I thought well,
for rockabilly. Hes a Ill resurrect my career such as it was and
fixture on the rockabilly see if I can start again but this time I want
festival circuit with to do it with songs Ive written and try to
Darrel Higham And The go out to a different audience.
Enforcers, he co-led Kat
Men with Slim Jim Phantom, he A WHOLE LOTTA LOVE FOR PLANT
backed up Jeff Beck for his RocknRoll He brought in Russ Chadd, who was a
Party, and most famously shared the backline tech for Mays band, to play
stage with his wife Imelda May as they drums and David Konig on bass, plus
brought rockabilly back to the charts with some famous guests. Jools Holland plays
her hit albums Mayhem and Tribal. After piano on three tracks. Hes on When You
the couple separated in 2015, Higham Smile, I Found A Smile, which is a real
found himself at a loose end. He hadnt piano-led rocker, and also on Please Give
released an album under his own name Me Something, says Higham. Hes just
since 2008, but it was time to get back one of the best boogie-woogie pianists
to the business of rocking. The result is out there. His love for the music is
Hells Hotel, Highams superb new record unbelievable. The aforementioned Please
that he hopes will break out beyond the Give Me Something, a cut originally
boundaries of the hardcore rockabilly recorded by Bill Allen And The Back
scene. Its a tough audience to try to Beats in 1958, features Robert Plant on
please with new material, says Higham. vocals. Hes a huge fan of rockabilly,
Rockabilly fans are very passionate says Higham. When I had the idea
and very well informed. They know the for this album, I emailed him and said:
music, they have their heroes.
Im no different, Im also a
fan of the music and to a large
extent I feel exactly the same
YOU ALWAYS SEE TEENAGERS
way. My job, as I see it, is to AT ROCKABILLY GIGS, THERES
While Higham says the album doesnt
have any overriding theme, he does
show a proclivity for writing songs about
love. Yet hes quick to point out that
hes not writing about himself, however
tempting it is to read into the lyrics of
a song like Nearer To A Love. There
is a tendency these days to write about
your life if youre a songwriter and put it
out there, he says. I dont think there
is anything wrong with that but if you
do that youre going to have to live with
the consequences. Its like having your
girlfriends name tattooed on your arm.
If it doesnt work out youre going to have
to go back, have it covered over and go
through that pain again. I didnt want to
write an album like that, I couldnt, Im
not that sort of songwriter. I think there
are two types of songwriters, there are
those that write a collection of songs
and say: This is about me, and there
are songwriters that say: Ive written a
collection of songs, I hope theyre about
you. I fall into the latter category. I
wouldnt know how to write a song about
me and make it interesting.
Instead, Higham approaches songs
as stories, often dealing with affairs of
the heart, whether falling headlong in
love or tumbling painfully out of it. Its
something we can all identify with, he
says. Nearer To A Love was inspired
by Hank Williams, who
Higham considers one of the
greatest songwriters of all
time. Theres a song of his
that has always affected me

ALWAYS A LITTLE GAGGLE OF THEM

try to get the music out to as profoundly when I first heard
broad and big an audience as it when I was a teenager, Im

SOMEWHERE AND YOU KNOW

I possibly can. When hes out So Lonesome I Could Cry,
with The Enforcers, Higham says Higham. I remember

THAT THEY LOVE THE MUSIC

is happy to play songs from the
rockabilly canon You cant
re-write Rockabilly Boogie,
theres no point, so you might
as well do Rockabilly Boogie but thats
not what he wants for his solo career. A
lot of the songs I write are not necessarily
rockabilly songs, he says. What Im
trying to find is a balance of keeping the
rockabilly in there but making the music
a little bit more rocknroll. In fact, I find
it very difficult to write rockabilly songs
because all the great ones have been
written as far as Im concerned.
Construction on Hells Hotel began
in the wake of Highams split from May
and the uncertainty that created. I
didnt know where life was taking me at
that particular time, he says. I was in
a band that had been very successful, I
didnt know what was going to happen.
Would you be interested in singing a
track? He came back almost immediately
and said: When do you want me to come
down and what track do you want me
to do? We fired a few ideas back and
forth. The idea of doing Please Give Me
Something had always appealed to me
because its such a powerful song, its a
very well-known song in the rockabilly
world, its almost a standard, but its one
of those songs I think if done right would
really work with more rocknroll fans. I
thought it was just a really good choice
and thankfully he agreed. He knew the
song anyway, he came down and he did
it in two takes. It was incredible. Sang it
twice, he was done and it was perfect.
thinking one day Id love to
write a song as sad as that. I
find it very difficult to write
something very sad, because
lifes not like that. Even when youre
going through the worst times in your life,
you always know youre going to come out
the other side. Thats why I wanted that
song to have that light at the end of the
tunnel. It came from a conversation I had
with somebody when I was very young.
I was moaning about a relationship and I
remember someone turned around to me
and said, You know what? If it doesnt
work out it just means youre one step
nearer to meeting the right person. I
thought, What a great bit of advice!
In addition to lending some inspiration
to Nearer To A Love, the founding father
of country music haunts Hells Hotel
in phantasmagorical form in the song

48 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30

VR30.darrelhigham.indd 48 26/05/2017 12:35

 Darrel
Higham
Darrel Higham performing
with Imelda May during the
Swinging London Monaco
Rose Ball in 2012

DARREL PICKS THREE

ROCKIN CLASSICS
EDDIE COCHRAN
- SINGIN TO
MY BABY
That was the album that
changed my life the first time
I saw the cover picture of
Eddie holding the Gretsch
guitar. It was his one and only album released during his
lifetime. He was probably 17 or 18-years-old when he made
it and his performances are so mature, that really does still
floor me to this day when I hear it.
Getty

Hank Williams And Me. Ive written a
lot of songs over the years that look on
love from a supernatural aspect, says
Higham. I dont know why I write songs
like this, but Ive written Ghost Of Love
which Imelda covered on Tribal. And
with Kat Men I wrote a song called Its A
Heartache I Cant Bare which is another
story song about a ghost. Its a theme that
fascinates me.
SPIRIT OF THE HILLBILLY SHAKESPEARE
In Hank Williams And Me, the spirit of
the country legend appears to help the
narrator write a song. But its not that
simple for the character being visited by
the ghost of country past. Hank Williams the way I look at it, he says. For many
turns up in a dream and says, Hey, lets
write a song. You think, This is going to
be great! Im going to write the best song
Ive ever written and Im going to write
it with Hank Williams! says Higham.
Then you realise that because youre
in such a dark place,
in such a bad period
of your life, that you
cant write the song
youve always wanted
to write with this god of
country music. As the
song progresses Hank
realises that even he
cant help you. Lyrically,
I think its the saddest
song on the album
Dont Look Back: Hells Hotel is Darrel
because that, to me, is Higham's new collection of stories dealing
a nightmare. with affairs of the heart
After Higham had the lyrics, he found
the tune hed originally written didnt
fit the subject matter. Because it was
in a major key and it was quite happy, it
irked me with the lyrics being so dark. I
changed it to a minor key and then it all
fell into place, it became a proper dark
song. It starts off happy and then ends up
quite dark. That really appealed to me.
Given his long, not to mention
successful, presence on the rockabilly
circuit, Higham isnt worried about
how the die-hards will react to the
rocknroll sound of Hells Hotel. Ive
often said the purists dont bother me
because I dont bother them. Thats
years, I was on a crusade to try to make
rockabilly commercially viable again
because I felt that it still has that power.
It can still profoundly affect the lives of
teenagers. I see it at the gigs. You always
see teenagers at rockabilly gigs, theres
always a little gaggle
of them somewhere
and you know that
they love the music.
Theyve discovered
it probably through
their parents or maybe
through the internet,
but its reached out and
grabbed them and its
affected them the way
it affected me. It says a
lot about the music that
it can still suck people
ELVIS PRESLEY
ELVIS GOLDEN
RECORDS
When I was about
four-years-old, I was walking
past a neighbours house
with my mum. It was a
beautiful sunny day, the neighbours had their windows
open and they were playing this music at full blast. I
stopped and said to my mum: Whats that? She said:
Thats Elvis Presley.
GENE VINCENT
GREATEST
I can honestly say that the
only time in my life Ive
heard music that terrified me
was listening to Gene Vincent
when I was a kid, because
the screams, the echo, the wild guitar, the drums, the
cymbals, it was absolutely terrifying to a seven-year-old
child. That taught me a lesson, that rockabilly, real proper
rockabilly, should frighten children.
in even in this day and age with all the
options that are open to people. I just like
the idea of coming up with my own way
of doing it. From time to time I come into
the studio and want to make an authentic
sounding rockabilly record and I think Ill
always carry on doing that.
A lot of time and effort went into the
production of Hells Hotel, so its not
geared towards purists but I think most
rockabilly fans are quite broadminded.
They go to rockabilly clubs dressed in the
style but secretly they like a lot of other
types of music. I do think that a lot of
rocknroll fans in general will enjoy this
album because its heart is rocknroll.

ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 49

VR30.darrelhigham.indd 49 26/05/2017 12:35

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 CLASSIC ALBUM

S
J A C K WAT K I N
B Y
WORDS

CHARL IE RIC H
LO N E LY W E E K E N D S W I T H C H A R L I E R I C H

52 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30

VR30.classicalbum.indd 52 26/05/2017 12:14

 W
hen Charlie Rich first walked
through the door at Sun Records, progressions, and in songs which had basic
Sam Phillips couldnt have been
blamed if he thought hed found
another artist with the pulling
power of Elvis Presley. He was
one of the best-looking men
Id ever seen, recalled one of the few female
rockabillies on the label, Barbara Pittman. Elvis JUST A HURRICANE FROM THE SEA
was pretty, but Charlie was handsome. The bull- Richs debut single, Whirlwind, coupled with
necked quarterbacks physique was offset by soft, sales on release in the autumn of 1958, but it
sensitive eyes, a shy smile and thick wavy hair,
given a hint of distinction by streaks of grey. At Lonely Weekends With Charlie Rich LP. Richs
times when he sang, you could detect a soulful
trace of Presley, and he could emulate Jerry Lee it invariably always was. Sam Phillips deployed
Lewis piano-pumping style, though always in a the
much more considered way. But that was as far
as the comparisons went.
An intensely private man, Rich was not one of
those introverted characters who finds another
self out under the spotlights. He disliked
being the centre of attention, and might have
been content as a sideman or songwriter, had
circumstances not propelled him into the front
line. His innate musicality was as wide as it
was deep, however, and because of this, even
his more mediocre offerings are never without
interest. Lonely Weekends With Charlie
Rich, his sole Sun Records album, released in
1960, offers an overview of Richs struggles
to blend a range of influences, including
rocknroll, country, blues, gospel and jazz, into
a distinctive style.
Rich had initially started at Sun towards
the end of 1957 as a songwriter, the snag to his
development as a performer for the label in his
own right was his sophisticated musical taste.
He and wife Margaret Ann, who often sang
with him on early blues and supper club dates,
were jazz fans. Rich adored the brassy sound
of the Stan Kenton big band an anathema
to young rocknroll fans and when it came
to singers, Frank Sinatras records were more
likely to be on the turntable than Presleys.
When Margaret Ann had taken along a
tape of some material she and Rich had done
together to Bill Justis at Sun, hed handed her
a batch of Jerry Lee Lewis records and told
her that her husband need only come to the
studio when he had learned to play that bad.
The point he was making that was that Sun
specialised in an earthy, primitive sound that
VR30.classicalbum.indd 53
came from a performers heart, not one full of
calculated, jazzy modulations or clever chord
lyrics shaped to appeal to the youth of the
day, not middle-aged sophisticates. But after a
stuttering start, Rich hit his stride, writing good
material for the likes of Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis,
and Ray Smith. Then, with Cashs departure
to Columbia and the Jerry Lee Lewis marriage
scandal, Rich was given the opportunity to
record his own singles.
Philadelphia Baby, had only enjoyed moderate
was strong enough to justify its place on the
boogie piano is strong and Jimmy Van Eatons
drum accompaniment is bang on the money as
characteristic Sun echo on Richs voice,
though his attempts to effect the hip vocal
mannerisms of some label mates were
half-hearted. Backing vocals and handclaps
were subsequently overdubbed on what has
C H A R L IE R IC H been a somewhat underrated song in the
Rich catalogue.
LO N E LY W E E K E N D S
The same could be said of the follow-up
WITH CHARLIE RICH
single Rebound, which is only surpassed by
1960 SUN RECORDS Break Up as the hardest rocker on Lonely
Weekends With Charlie Rich. Of course, the
word rocker has to be heavily qualified when
LONELY WEEKENDS its applied to Rich, who never did get frantic.
SCHOOL DAYS That just wasnt his style. But Rebound had
WHIRLWIND a lovely piano intro that was pure Charlie
STAY
Rich, and Van Eatons playing featured the
C.C. RIDER
infectious swing-era shuffle rhythm played
COME BACK
simultaneously on the snare and ride cymbal,
familiar from his work on the Jerry Lee Lewis
GONNA BE WAITIN Sun recordings. Van Eaton used it again on
APPLE BLOSSOM TIME Break Up, a song Rich had originally written
BREAK UP for Lewis, but which had stiffed after his
THATS HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU disastrous UK tour. For Richs version, Scotty
REBOUND Moore was on hand to play guitar, while Rich,
JUANITA not on the whole a guy who banged the
LONELY WEEKENDS WITH CHARLIE
RICH, HIS SOLE SUN RECORDS
ALBUM, OFFERS AN OVERVIEW OF
RICHS STRUGGLES TO BLEND A
RANGE OF INFLUENCES
ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 53
26/05/2017 12:14
 CLASSIC ALBUM
A RICH
LEGACY
If Lonely Weekends... reflects Charlie Richs
diverse musical influences, the Bear Family
Records Lonely Weekends: The Sun Years
1958-1962 is even more revealing, usually on
material he wrote himself. Many people think
Richs song Who Will The Next Fool Be was
one of his best performances of all time,
notwithstanding the fact that Jerry Lee Lewis
did two ripping versions of the number, on
his The Greatest Live Show On Earth album in
1964, and on his first Elektra album, Jerry Lee
Lewis, in 1979. But Richs bluesy qualities
were never at the expense of melody, as
evidenced on the gorgeous Time And Again,
on which, as so often, he delivers the most
sublime of piano chords. Red Man is a jazzy
instrumental, featuring some sonorous tenor
sax, and one of his prettiest ballads
is Ive Lost My Heart To You. Everyday has
a mambo rhythm and a scintillating
production reminiscent of the swirling
arrangements of the Ben E King-era Drifters.
You can also hear Rich tearing into an early
cut of Right Behind You Baby, the rocker he
wrote for Ray Smith, and of course, theres
the song Sam Phillips once said was the best
thing hed ever recorded, Dont Put No
Headstone On My Grave.
54 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30
Untitled-3 54
keyboard hard, knocked out one of his fastest
and most furious solos.
As a single Rebound had been paired with
Big Man, and although the latter didnt make
it onto the album, it had played a significant
part in terms of Richs commercial career
development. As JM Van Eaton, who played
on just about all Richs Sun releases, explains,
it was the inspiration for the Lonely Weekends
single, which was his breakthrough hit: Sam
had okd this guy (Dale Fox) to come in and
record a gospel song. He called me in to the
studio as well as Charlie, who was to play
piano. There may have been a guitar player
there, and a bass player, I can remember. So we
worked on it, but the guys vocals werent very
good, and to salvage it, Sam told Charlie to sing
it just to get the session over with. Well, Big
Man had this gospel-type feel to it, so Id come
up with a matching beat, with the bass drum.
And Sam said to Charlie, Man, if you can write
us a song, I love that beat. So when Charlie
came up with Lonely Weekends, I played the
same beat. If you listen to the two records, you
can hear the rhythm
pattern of Lonely
Weekends comes
from Big Man.
RICHS SINGING
ALL THAT JAZZ...
Along with Van WAS TASTEFUL AND
Eatons double-timed
bass drum, another
notable thing about
JAZZY, SUGGESTING
Lonely Weekends
was that, instead SOMEONE WHO FOUND
of a guitar, the solo
part was taken by a
CONVENTIONAL POP
baritone saxophone,
BOUNDARIES LIMITING
a rarity in a pop
record of that time.
The sax was played
by Martin Willis,
a member of Billy
Rileys Little Green Men, along with Van
Eaton and Roland Janes, who played guitar
on the session. Sun wasnt real big abut sax
solos at the time... a solo usually meant a
guitar break, Willis later recalled. But Rich
had been insistent that he wanted something
different and instructed Willis on what his solo
should sound like. The track was recorded in
the Sun Studio, 706 Union Avenue in October
1959, but the overdubbing featuring the Gene
Lowery Chorus, and the catchy rim shots that
can be heard over Willis solo, were added
in the new Phillips Recording Studio at 639
Madison Avenue, with its state-of-the-art echo
chambers, later in the month.
The undubbed takes, which can be heard on
Bear Family Records Charlie Rich 3CD box
set: Lonely Weekends The Sun Years 1958-
1962, suggest the song was strong enough to
not require adornment, but the chorals do lend
it an cavernous, epic quality, and were part
of the mystique as Roland Janes later put it,
while admitting the use of echo was excessive.
In any case, released in January 1960, the song
gave Rich his first hit, reaching No.22.
Yet a follow up success proved elusive, and
the album indicates why, as Rich skirted around
in search of an identity. Gonna Be Waitin was
the follow-up single to Lonely Weekends. It
was a good song, but it repeated the rhythmic
pattern of Lonely Weekends, and even Richs
throaty shout of yeah!! over a guitar solo
couldnt rescue it. Its flip School Days wasnt
exactly a trip into Chuck Berry land, even if the
title sounded like it could have been. It sounded
like an older man looking back nostalgically on
his youth. Richs singing was tasteful and jazzy,
suggesting someone who found conventional
pop boundaries limiting.
Stay, though a Rich favourite and with
typical stylings, was a tepid ballad, despite
some nice piano, and its a pity that the flip
side on its single release, the graceful Latin-
styled swayer, On My
Knees didnt make
it onto the album
instead. But other
tracks on the album
are of considerable
interest. The self-
penned Come Back
and Thats How
Much I Love You
are examples of Rich
doing Tony Bennett
or Frank Sinatra-style
swing. His comfort
with the material
is obvious, and you
just wish he could
have been given
more space to spread
out his elegant
piano playing. Apple Blossom Time, another
old favourite, had a saccharine lyric which
Richs jazzy inflections helped make bearable.
The dreaded backing vocals were on again for
C.C. Rider and Juanita, two tracks which
indicated Richs affection for the work of
Chuck Willis without approaching the stark
majesty of the latters recordings. They
did reflect the R&B influenced direction of
Richs post-Sun hits like Big Boss Man and
Mohair Sam, though his greatest commercial
success would come during his Silver Fox
countrypolitan years, working with producer
Billy Sherill on ballads like Behind Closed
Doors and The Most Beautiful Girl.
Charlie Rich was a multi-faceted performer
who would never be pinned to a single style,
a fact fully reflected on Lonely Weekends With
Charlie Rich.
26/05/2017 15:43
 JM VAN EATON on CHARLIE RICH
IN GOOD ROCKIN TONIGHT: SUN RECORDS AND THE BIRTH OF ROCKNROLL COLIN ESCOTT WROTE THAT
THE SOUND OF SURPRISE JIMMY VAN EATON CAPTURED IN HIS DRUMMING WAS THE PULSE OF SUN
RECORDS. HERE HE TREATS US TO HIS RECOLLECTIONS OF CHARLIE RICH
Sam Phillips raved Did Charlie and Bill Justis feel a bit one of Charlies Sun outtakes of it (Rich
about Charlie above rocknroll ? later recorded the song for RCA, but the
Richs talent. You Not so much Charlie who was such an outtake JM is referring to is on the Bear
were on most of easy-going guy he just rolled with the flow. Familys Lonely Weekends boxset) and
his Sun sessions. He didnt make fun of it where Bill would. I man, he was really feeling it that day. Hes
What sort of think Charlie loved all kinds of music to be got such a laidback feeling you can almost
things did you honest. You can tell when he did Juanita see him in a room by himself... His vocals
record together? that hed been listening to other music. Bill are awesome.
Charlie was so was always nice to me, but he seemed to
versatile. He was more pop-orientated think he knew more about music. He You also work with Charlies son?
than Jerry Lee Lewis, and wanted to be the probably did, but you still have to translate Charlie Rich Jnr, yes, were really good
next Frank Sinatra and do the ballads. He that into something people are going to friends, and hes so much like his Dad, has
got his chance on things like Schooldays buy. Charlie knew he couldnt sell jazz, the same mannerisms, plays the same
and Apple Blossom Time. They were songs whereas Bill kept thinking big bands were piano chords. We played the Country
we made more for Charlies benefit than as going to come back into fashion. Music Hall of Fame. We even did a couple
something the public would buy. But he of shows in Amsterdam together recently.
also wrote stuff like Philadelphia Baby, Charlie sounds so comfortable on I really enjoy playing with him.
which he hoped would get him on Dick the bluesy stuff and the ballads
Clarks American Bandstand, and Lonely Well, let me tell you, Im doing some shows Time we saw you in England I
Weekends which was one of the best of his with Deke Dickerson in Nashville. Were think?
commercial numbers. But I thought Who doing a couple of Charlie Rich songs, Man, Id love to. Linda Gail Lewis and I
Will The Next Fool Be was a really great Lonely Weekends, and this song Ive been played in Barcelona last year. But Im not
song. listening to for weeks, There Wont Be Any getting any younger. If they want to see me
More. Deke sent me what must have been theyd better come on.
You must have found working with
Charlie very different to Jerry
Lee? The versatile Charlie Rich was
He was a different breed of entertainer. I more pop-orientated than
Jerry Lee Lewis, and wanted to
never did think he was a rocknroll singer be the next Frank Sinatra and
because he had such finesse in his piano do the ballads
playing. His personality and Jerry Lees
were totally opposite. Charlie was a big
guy. I think hed played in a football team
over in Arkansas. He looked like he could
take care of himself if the need arose. But
he was shy in front of an audience, and in
the early days sometimes Id take him
along to play in Billy Rileys band. People
expected him to be another Jerry Lee but
he wasnt, and he didnt know how to react.
Hed just sit down and play these nice
chords, and the songs had different chord
progressions from what Jerry Lee was
playing. Now Jerry Lee was a more
commercial piano player, but Charlie was a
real musician.

Youd played in a 16-piece big band

at high school so when Charlie
walked in with his love of swing
you must have found that
refreshing, because your
drumming has a kind of swinging
rhythm to it?
Well, this is the thing man, when you come
out of a 16-piece orchestra and youre put
with a four or maybe even a three-piece
combo, youre trying to fill the riffs that
the orchestra would have played. To me it
seemed so empty when youd normally
have a horn section playing some rhythm
patterns or a riff of some sort. That just
wasnt there with the small combo, so I
Getty

kind of overplayed I guess, but it worked

out pretty good for me.

ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 55

VR30.classicalbum.indd 55 26/05/2017 12:14

 1957
THE YOU
NEVER
GREATEST H AD IT S
GOOD! O
YEAR EVER!
RECENTLY NAMED THE HAPPIEST YEAR, 1957 FOUND THE GOOD FOLK OF
BLIGHTY IN AN OPTIMISTIC MOOD. SIXTY YEARS ON, WE REVISIT THOSE 365
DAYS WHEN HANCOCK, PRESLEY AND ANDY PANDY REIGNED SUPREME

L
et us be frank happiest ever year.

THE TOP 100

about it: most The statement
of our people immediately raises a
have never couple of questions.

SONGS OF 1957
had it so Dont these university
good. Yeah, types have anything
it was easy better to do with their

100
for Harold time? More to the point, ELVIS PRESLEY
MacMillan to say that. what is it about 1957 Love Me Tender
The Conservative that made it such a blast
minister and 1st Earl Of
Stockton had enjoyed a
to be alive...
Well, Harold [or
99 GARY MILLER
The Garden Of Eden

98 LARRY WILLIAMS
Getty

privileged existence on Super-Mac as he

Short Fat Fannie
his journey to the office was nicknamed after
of Prime Minister in Harold Macmillan told the country in 1957 being lampooned in a
1957. Of course, his famous that: Most of our people have never had cartoon in the Evening
it so good
97 BILLY WILLIAMS
Im Gonna Sit Right
Down And Write Myself A
words, spoken during a Standard in 1958] was
Tory rally in Bedford in July that year, right, the British economy was in rude Letter

96
didnt take into account the existence of health in 1957. Exports were up, there TERRY DENE
the poor sods trudging through dead end was full-employment, and the people Start Movin (In My
lives in sub-standard accommodation of Britain were finally spending their Direction)

THE INFLUENCE OF THE NEWLY MOTIVATED 95 THE VIPERS SKIFFLE

GROUP
Cumberland Gap

YOOF WAS THERE TO SEE IN THE CHART 94 THE PLATTERS

Im Sorry

PLACINGS OF CATS LIKE ELVIS PRESLEY 93 ROSEMARY CLOONEY

Mangos

in tenements and slums in post-war

Britain. It was no picnic for gay men
money. For the first time, there was a
sense of aspiration in the working classes.
92 FRANKIE LYMON &
THE TEENAGERS
Im Not A Juvenile Delinquent
and foreigners either. But hey, Harry The influence of the newly motivated
was looking at the bigger picture. He
continued: Go around the country, go to
yoof was there to see in the chart
placings of cats like Elvis Presley and
91 CHARLIE GRACIE
Butterfly

the industrial towns, go to the farms and

you will see a state of prosperity such as
homegrown talents like Tommy Steele.
TV ownership was booming. 19.3 million 90 LITTLE RICHARD
Shes Got It

89
we have never had in my lifetime nor people were spending 40 per cent of their WINIFRED ATWELL
indeed in the history of this country. evenings glued to one of the two available Lets Have A Ball
Sixty years on, it turns out that channels BBC and ITV on their idiot
MacMillans optimistic rhetoric was
justified after a team at Warwick
lanterns by 1957. Television made icons
of comedian Tony Hancock, Dixon Of
88 TOMMY STEELE & THE
STEELMEN
Knee Deep In The Blues
University named 1957 as Great Britains Dock Green copper Jack Warner, and a

ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 57

VR30.1957.indd 57 26/05/2017 11:23

 1957 THE GREATEST EVER YEAR

43 PAUL ANKA
I Love You, Baby

42 CHARLIE GRACIE
I Love You So Much
It Hurts/ Wanderin Eyes

41 JOHNNIE RAY
You Dont Owe Me A
Thing/ Look Homeward
Angel

40 THE EVERLY
BROTHERS
Bye Bye Love

39 TOMMY STEELE &

THE STEELMEN
Butterfingers

38 BING CROSBY
Around The World
Forever associated with the
golden age of rocknroll,
the 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air

37 THE EVERLY BROTHERS

CARS
Wake Up Little Susie of rocknroll, the car couldnt have been

36 TOMMY STEELE & responsible for putting a smile on the face

THE STEELMEN of British punters who were unlikely to
Singing The Blues see one.
In the UK, cars like the Ford Consul,
35 PAT BOONE
Remember Youre Zodiac and Zephyr models provided
some American-styling with Brit-friendly
Mine/ Theres A Goldmine In
body proportions and power output. Top
The Sky
DRIVEN WILD... CRUISIN speed fell just short of 90mph but the

34 MALCOLM VAUGHAN
St. Therese Of The
AND PLAYIN THE RADIO
cars looked the absolute balls and by 1957,
the restyled Mark II models were on the
Roses

WITH NO PARTICULAR
forecourts. The British motor industry

33 CHARLES MCDEVITT was thriving in 1957. Exports were up and

PLACE TO GO!
SKIFFLE GROUP new models were being hungrily received
FEATURING NANCY WHISKEY by a generation that suddenly had the

I
Freight Train wherewithal to get mobile. Aside from the
f you want to get down to the nitty various Standard, Humber, MG, Triumph
32 JIM DALE
Be My Girl gritty, 50s rocknroll is basically all
about cars and girls. Imagine Chuck
and Rover cars available, the face-lifted
Morris Minor 1000 was a big hit for those

31 TOMMY STEELE & THE

STEELMEN
Berrys No Particular Place To Go
or Eddie Cochrans Something Else
looking for a reliable, affordable car in the
years before Sir Alec Issigonis ground-
Water Water/ A Handful Of
if they were going on about push breaking Mini rolled off the production
Songs
bikes not so cool. Motors have line. In 1956, the Moggie was updated

30 GUY MITCHELL
Knee Deep In The
been the subject of popular song since
the likes of Terraplane Blues recorded
with a more powerful 948cc engine and a
one-piece windscreen.
Blues by Delta blues singer Robert Johnson If you had the bunce, you could wrap
in Sa Antonio, Texas in 1936, and Jackie yourself in a Jaguar. The choice of bank
29 PETULA CLARK
Brenston & His Delta Cats managers and bank robbers

IF YOU HAD
With All My Heart
Rocket 88, a song cut at Sam alike, punters could plump

28 LITTLE RICHARD Phillips Sun Studio in March for the new Mark VIII sports

THE BUNCE,
Long Tall Sally
1951. saloon which had been on the

27 PAT BOONE What would become the market for a year, or the more
Friendly Persuasion ultimate rocknroll brief compact 2.4 Litre Mark I that

26 RONNIE HILTON
Around The World
was unveiled by Chevrolet
in September 1956 for the YOU COULD had been on the road since
1955. The latter model was

WRAP
1957 model year. Now, replaced in 1959 by the iconic

25 LONNIE DONEGAN
Dont You Rock Me
immortalised as the 57 Chevy
the car was available in three
Mark II Inspector Morse
model. Morse actually drove
Daddy-O
series, the top-of-the-line Bel
YOURSELF IN a Lancia in Colin Dexters

24 GUY MITCHELL Air, the mid-range Two-Ten, original books. It was actor

A JAGUAR
Rock-A-Billy and the One-Fifty. Forever John Thaw who insisted
associated with the golden age on the Jag.

62 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30

VR30.1957.indd 62 26/05/2017 11:23

 1957 THE GREATEST EVER YEAR

23 THE DIAMONDS

Getty
Little Darlin

22 ELVIS PRESLEY
(Let Me Be Your)
Teddy Bear

21 DEBBIE REYNOLDS
Tammy

20 RUSS HAMILTON
We Will Make Love

19 ELVIS PRESLEY
Party

18 JOHNNY DUNCAN &

THE BLUE GRASS BOYS
Getty

Last Train To San

Fernando

17 BING CROSBY &

GRACE KELLY
True Love

TV
From Hancocks Half
Hour to Andy Pandy
(right), television had a
16 THE CRICKETS
Thatll Be The Day

huge cultural impact on

the UK in 1957 15 ANDY WILLIAMS
Butterfly

SIT-COM GOLD FROM 14 HARRY BELAFONTE

The Banana Boat Song

THE KING OF COMEDY 13 LONNIE DONEGAN

Cumberland Gap

I
ts no big revelation that TV
ownership took a sharp upturn in
included Sid James, Hattie Jacques, Bill
Kerr, Kenneth Williams, Moira Lister and
12 NAT KING COLE
When I Fall In Love

time for the Queens Coronation

in 1953. Four years down the line,
Andre Melly.
When the show transferred to 11 HARRY BELAFONTE
Marys Boy Child

10
the estimated audience of British television, only Hancock and James FRANKIE VAUGHAN
viewers was 19.3 million. There were remained, cast as fictionalised versions The Garden Of Eden
only two channels at that time the of themselves Anthony Aloysius St
BBC and ITV and it was only in 1957
that broadcasters finally did away with
John Hancock and Sidney Balmoral
James co-existing in the dilapidated
9 PAT BOONE
Dont Forbid Me

8
the so-called Toddlers Truce, an hour surroundings of 23 Railway Cuttings in JOHNNIE RAY
between 6 and 7pm every evening when East Cheam. Yes Tonight Josephine
viewing was suspended to allow mothers In addition to the brilliant comic
to put their children to bed.
The big shows of the day included
writing of Galton and Simpson, and
chemistry between Tony and Sid, what
7 HARRY BELAFONTE
Island In The Sun

Top Of The Pops prototype The Six Five

Special, and Dixon Of Dock Green, a
much-loved drama featuring actor Jack
Warner as the titular copper. Twenty
years later, villains could expect a boot in
the knackers from The Sweeneys Jack
made Hancocks Half Hour special was
the focus on character. Throughout their 6 LONNIE DONEGAN
Gamblin Man/ Putting
run, both the BBC TV and radio shows On The Style
shied away from the broad music hall
style humour of other shows, preferring
to reference important topics of the day
5 GUY MITCHELL
Singing The Blues

Regan for their trouble. In Dixon Of Dock

Green, hapless ne-er do wells got a clip
like the growing dominance of television
itself [The Set That Failed], the battle 4 PAT BOONE
Love Letters In
round the earhole and a bloody good of the sexes [The Male Suffragettes and The Sand

3
talking to. The Big Night Out] and personal image TAB HUNTER
The greatest TV programme of 1957, [The New Nose]. Hancock was the little Young Love
was Hancocks Half Hour. Written by man convinced that he was being short
Ray Galton and Alan Simpson the
genius partnership that went on to
changed by life, a working class hero who
looked at his lot and thought, Im better
2 ELVIS PRESLEY
All Shook Up

1
create Steptoe & Son Hancocks Half than this, a theme continued by Harold PAUL ANKA
Hour began life on radio where it starred Steptoe, Basil Fawlty, Del Boy Trotter and Diana
Tony Hancock and a support cast that David Brent.

64 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30

VR30.1957.indd 64 26/05/2017 11:23

THE ORIGINAL SUN ALBUMS 1957 - 1964

FROM JULY 2017

THE JOHNNY CASH SUN RECORDS SERIES
Newly Remastered from the original master tapes
Available as strictly limited 180-gram coloured vinyl editions
40x50mm
Digital Download & Mastered for iTunes with bonus tracks
2 col - 115c + 478c

OFFICIAL ALBUM
LIMITED EDITION
COLOURED VINYL
NEWLY REMASTERED
 THE LOST BOYS

THE
LOST
BOYS
MOCKED. MALIGNED.
MISREPRESENTED. AFTER
A HALF-CENTURY SCRUBBED OUT
OF HISTORY, BILLY BRAGGS NEW
BOOK SEEKS TO THROW LIGHT ON
THE MUSICAL GENRE THAT FELL
THROUGH THE CRACKS. SKIFFLE IS
A HARD SELL, THE PUNK LEGEND
TELLS HENRY YATES, BUT IM ON A
Jacob Blickenstaff

BIT OF A CRUSADE BY HENRY YATES

66 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30

VR30.billybragg.indd 66 26/05/2017 14:26


H
istorians aint what they used to
be. As youd expect from a punk
firebrand, Billy Braggs new book
Roots, Radicals & Rockers: How
Skiffle Changed The World doesnt
so much lead you down memory lane
as drag you by the hair. Two years ago,
fascinated with skiffle and baffled that nobody
had tried to chronicle the late-50s boom, the
songwriter set out to capture the flashpoint
when trad jazz spat out its uncouth offspring,
exhume the stars that time forgot, and sweep
up a little social history along the way. I was
like an archaeologist, he reflects. Yknow, you
find a few pieces of pottery in a field, and you
think, something has happened here. So you
take some time, dig a trench, see what you can
find. Thats what Ive sort of done with this
book. Its like musical archaeology. Its the
pre-history of British pop.
Why write this book now?
[laughs] People keep asking me why Im
writing a book about skiffle when all this other
stuff is going on. And Im like, Mate, Ive been
writing this book for two years. Nobody saw
this shit coming. Not Trump. Not Brexit. Not
Leicester City. So dont be giving me shit about
it. Ive always had an interest in skiffle, in terms
of its cultural impact, rather than music that
I listen to all the time. Every now and then,
Id get intimations of how important Lonnie
Donegan was to people, like John Peel, Van
Morrison, people I admire. That didnt really
match up with the general view of him as some
sort of corny old entertainer. So I figured I was
missing something there.
When did you hear skiffle for the first time?
Well, the first record I ever bought was a
K-tel rocknroll album. It had Rock Around
The Clock, Great Balls Of Fire but it also
Billy Bragg plays alongside
Beth Orton at the March For
Women at City Hall in 2017
VR30.billybragg.indd 67
Billy
had Lonnie Donegans Cumberland Gap.
I remember thinking, What is this doing
on here? This isnt really rocknroll. Its
Bragg
not American. Its not electric. Its really
weird. Its only got two chords and Donegan
hyperventilates through most of it. But I
recognised that it was special. Because Id
grown up thinking of Lonnie Donegan as,
yknow, My Old Mans A Dustman.
Was it tough to get publishers interested?
Skiffle is a bit of a hard sell. I understand that
Ive got to convince people. That its not like
saying, Im going to write a book about 1967.
To prove to everybody myself included that
this was a viable idea, I had already written
30,000 words before I spoke to Faber. So I was
already off and running. But I think the fact
that Rock Island Line doesnt come in until
Chapter 13 helped people to understand that I
was going to write a book that has more depth
than just a bash-it-out pop music book. I was
trying to put skiffle in context.
What did skiffle offer to kids in the 1950s
that existing music didnt?
Firstly, skiffle allowed them to have a
music that was their own. Before skiffle,
any kid who thought about being a singer
PEOPLE KEEP ASKING ME WHY
IM WRITING A BOOK ABOUT
SKIFFLE WHEN ALL THIS OTHER
STUFF IS GOING ON
Getty
ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 67
26/05/2017 14:26
 THE LOST BOYS

youth. One, you dont have to be a musician

to make music. Two, you dont have to be
American to sing American songs.

What was the knock-on effect of that?

That idea was really inspirational to the young
people who saw Donegan on that first tour of
variety halls in the winter of 1956. He played
for a week at the Liverpool Empire. George
Harrison went every night. McCartney went
down to get his autograph. John Lennon
formed The Quarrymen within two weeks.
So you imagine that effect on that generation
of kids born in the 40s. Those born in the
30s had a different experience, because their
teenage years were dominated by the war and
the grim years of rationing. The generation
of the 40s leave school in 1955. Rationing has
ended. Theres near full employment. Theyre
earning good money. Particularly the young
women, who are the crucial drivers of youth
culture in this period. They cant go into a pub
on their own, because of the social pressure.
They dont want to go to the milk bars, because
thats where their mum and dad go. So they
alight on the cappuccino bars. The women
start gathering socially there, and thats why
the young men come and play their guitars.
Being in a skiffle band was a bit like playing
football with your mates. Everybody did it. You
couldnt get girls to watch you play football. But
you could get girls to come and watch you play
three songs furiously on acoustic guitar.

Why else was skiffle a line in the sand?

If you were a teenager and you went to a
skiffle club, youd be expecting to hear guitar-
led music. Now, that might be what we call
Andy Whale

Billy Braggs new book, Roots, Radicals & traditional skiffle like The Vipers and Lonnie
Rockers: How Skiffle Changed The World, is Donegan it might be gospel, it might be
out now, published by Faber & Faber
calypso, it might be blues. But it would be music
played on a guitar. The guitar signifies the new
music of a new generation. Beforehand, if you

SKIFFLE HAD EMPOWERED

encountered a guitar player in British culture,
they were outsiders, a singing cowboy or an old

YOUNG BRITISH TEENAGERS

blues guy like Big Bill Broonzy. Guitar players
were never at the centre of culture. Skiffle

AND ELVIS SHOWED THEM

breaks the model whereby you can only have
hit singles if they come from Tin Pan Alley.
Donegan gets his songs off the shelf from the

HOW TO SHAKE THEIR HIPS Library of Congress Recordings, or from Woody

would only think in terms of singing pre-
written songs in front of a big band wearing
a bow tie. Because thats what pop music
was. It was Dickie Valentine, Nat King Cole,
Johnnie Ray, these guys. What Donegan does,
he suddenly makes the idea of playing music
accessible to a generation whod never thought
about it before. He imparts two of the most
revolutionary ideas ever imparted to British
Guthries records. So suddenly young people
can imagine themselves getting an old folk song
and having a hit. Its music for young people,
made by young people. Thats the crucial thing
about skiffle. Its the first example of that in
British cultural history.
People talk about the 1960s as the big
flashpoint in youth culture was the late-
50s just as significant?
Oh, 1957 was definitely exciting. Because Elvis
had come in by then as well. So firstly, skiffle

68 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30

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had empowered young British teenagers. And
Elvis showed them how to shake their hips.
What are the key skiffle tracks for you?
Well, Im doing a thing for Classic Album
Sundays, where Ive got to play vinyl and talk
about skiffle. What youre supposed to do is
take in an album, play it and talk about it track
by track. Well, there aint no skiffle albums. The
Vipers never made an album, Chas McDevitt
never made an album, in that period. Donegan
made a couple of albums but it cant just be
about him. So Im gonna have to do classic
skiffle EPs. But I think the key skiffle tracks
have aged well, yeah. If you listen to Rock
Island Line when it really gets galloping, it
would even stand out today, if you heard it on
the radio.
In the book, you draw parallels between
skiffle and punk
Well, I think my
THERE WERE SO MANY
experience in
punk both as an
audience member and
performer gave me
insights into skiffle MOMENTS WRITING THE BOOK
that I wouldnt have
had if Id come at it WHEN I SAW SOMETHING THAT
REMINDED ME OF PUNK
purely academically.
There were so many
moments writing
the book when I saw
something that reminded me of punk. If you go
all the way back to Heres three chords, now
form a group, which was the central tenet of
punk. The idea of do-it-yourself music. The
skifflers were so do-it-yourself, they bought the
bits for their instruments in an ironmongers
and made them from nails and string. What
could be more DIY than that? And then,
yknow, you find Michael Moorcock selling
fanzines at gigs, Delphine Colyer stencilling the
names of her heroes on her dress. These things
are so reminiscent of what I saw in punk.
What was the skiffle scene like?
Well, the skiffle clubs themselves were few and
far between. Very few of the performers were
doing proper gigs as I do gigs in the skiffle
period. Most of the skiffle happened in church
halls, youth clubs, school gyms. Its a very
close-knit scene. People are borrowing guitar
strings, borrowing bass players, stealing songs.
Again, its a bit like punk. Youve got to see the
skiffle scene in 50s Soho as the punk scene
before the Clash went on the White Riot Tour.
In Jon Savages book, Englands Dreaming, hes
actually in the milieu that produces the Sex
Pistols, The Clash and The Slits. When The
Clash play The Rainbow in May 1977, theres a
riot and from that moment on, Savage bemoans
the fact that he and that clique no longer have
VR30.billybragg.indd 69
Billy
control of the
punk scene.
Well, I was there
Bragg
at that gig. And
that was the night that
the rest of us took punk as an idea and began
to run with it. And its that moment when
skiffle breaks out of Soho that young people
are empowered. Theyre not waiting to buy the
next record. Theyre forming bands.
The books tagline is How Skiffle Changed
The World is that an exaggeration?
I dont think it is, in terms of the cultural
repercussions. Almost every one of those
British bands from the 60s picked up guitars
during the skiffle boom. It was a teenage craze.
The sales of guitars went from 5,000 to 250,000
in the space of just five years. Youre talking
about thousands of skiffle groups scraping away
in school halls. It was
interesting, going back
to that period around
when I was born [1957]
and seeing that moment
of transition in British
pop culture. Because the
idea that British kids had
always played guitar that
wasnt always the way.
Thats a knock-on effect
of skiffle, as is the British
Invasion. Yknow, Lennon
might have met McCartney.
They might have formed The Beatles, might
have made hit singles, might have broken
America, without skiffle. But without skiffle,
there wouldnt have been an army of British
bands queuing up behind them, ready to come
to America.
You also argue theres a close connection
between skiffle and rockabilly?
Yeah. When I say rockabilly, I mean two
guitars, a slap bass and no drums. Yknow,
Elvis in The Sun Sessions. And I think the
fact that Elvis recorded Thats All Right
HE DIDNT LIKE MY POLITICS
Billy on his bizarre lunch with Lonnie Donegan
I got this message from John Peel Come and have dinner with me and Lonnie Donegan. It wasnt anything
formal. It was at the BBC canteen at lunchtime. And me and Lonnie got on like a house on fire. We talked about
Woody Guthrie, skiffle, politics he didnt like my politics! Peel didnt say anything the whole time. And afterwards,
driving home with my plugger, I said, Has Peel got the hump or something? And my plugger was like, You dont
know what just happened, do you? He invited you because hes so in awe of Lonnie Donegan that he needed
someone to be there to talk to Lonnie so he could listen.
A few months later, I was at Peels house doing a radio show. And while he was playing a track, I asked him,
What was all that with Lonnie Donegan the other day, and you not talking? Peel didnt saying nothing. He went to
his back room where he kept his records and came back with the original 78 of Rock Island Line, and his eyes filled
with tears. Cos he could turn on the waterworks, it didnt take much with Peel. So I was like, Alright, I get it
ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 69
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 THE LOST BOYS

Billy Bragg busking

Getty
in USA in 1984

in Memphis, just a from skiffle and mixing

I THINK THAT SKIFFLE

week before Donegan
recorded Rock Island
Line its more than
a coincidence. I think
there was something
it with the rocknroll
vibe thats coming from
America. So they regain
SHOULD HAVE THE SAME control, and skiffle
becomes the sort of

CREDIBILITY AS PUNK IT
going on at that time. music youd hear on John
Two young guys, Peels show. Whereas,

REALLY WAS REVOLUTIONARY

playing guitars, no
drums, speeding up an
old blues song. Theres
a connection. And when
Donegan went to America, he was backed by
a rocknroll trio led by Johnny Burnette. They
were doing five shows a day, and there was a
pit orchestra that played for the singers, but
they never got the hang of what Donegan was
trying to do. So Burnette said, Why dont you
let us back you up? And Donegan jumped at
the opportunity. So for a while, on that tour, for
a month or so, skiffle and rockabilly met each
other as equals, and recognised a kinship that
was much deeper than the divide of coming
from across the ocean.
The boom didnt last long. What do you
think killed skiffle?
Well, its very quickly superseded by rocknroll.
The same thing happened to rockabilly, which
also goes up like a rocket, comes down like
a stick. What happens in the UK is that Tin
Pan Alley regains control of popular music by
inventing Tommy Steele, taking all the energy
yknow, Tommy Steele
and Cliff Richard are
in the charts.
Do you think the rock
history books skim over skiffle?
Yes, of course. Yknow, in 1967, Sgt Peppers
comes out, and thats a really significant
moment, where the focus of rock music moves
away from disposable songs for teenyboppers
to enduring cultural statements that resonate
through an entire generation of young adults.
What happens as a consequence of that is,
Rolling Stone comes along, rock journalism
becomes serious, and in that context, it simply
wasnt done to say that you were inspired to
play the guitar by Donegan or Chas McDevitt.
Because you could equally argue because
it was only a few months earlier that youd
heard Elvis and Buddy Holly. So there was a bit
of sleight-of-hand there, and it was endorsed
by journalists, too, because they also didnt
want to admit they were inspired by the bloke
who sang My Old Mans A Dustman. I think
that skiffle should have the same credibility as

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Billy Bragg performing
at the Fleadh Festival
punk. In its first brief flame in 1956 and 57, it
really was revolutionary. Its unfortunate that
people now see skiffle through a prism. Its like
judging rocknroll-based on Elvis performance
in Clambake. Youre seeing a single moment
that doesnt really connect with the spark of
inspiration that started it all off.
Has Donegan been written out of history?
I think skiffle has been written out of history,
period. With Donegan, hes not written out of
history so much as completely misrepresented.
Its significant that he and Elvis both went to
Vegas. But there was nowhere else for him to
go. Donegan could only play on the variety
circuit, and after that, it was showbusiness
because thats the only business there was.
Both Donegan and Tommy Steele ended up in
mainstream culture, because in terms of having
a long career, and not having to get a shitty day
job, that was the only option open to them. And
so, we see Donegan now in those terms. Its
hard to get back to that moment in 1956 when
everything was bland and rationing had just
ended and the shock of hearing Rock Island
Line. It would have been like the first time you
heard Pretty Vacant.
VR30.billybragg.indd 71
Getty
Can you hear skiffle in your music?
I think the DIY spirit is in there, definitely.
The idea that you shouldnt wait for someone
to come and say, You can do this. Thats why
I wrote this book. Nobody was knocking on
the door saying, Listen, we need a book about
skiffle, Bill. Why write about something so
obscure as skiffle? Because I felt passionate
about it.
Could there ever be a full-blown
skiffle revival?
What I think there could be is a revival of that
spirit of self-empowerment. It probably wont
be where we expect it to be. For instance, Im
not surprised that grime artists are standing
up with Corbyn at the moment. Because for
a long time now, urban music has been the most
radical music out there. Its been the
most political, the most conscious.
This is obviously a pretty important
project for you?
Yeah. I do believe that skiffle deserves greater
credibility, and that Lonnie Donegan should be
in the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame. Im on a bit
of a crusade.
Billy
Bragg
IN HIS
OWN
WRITE
Billy on why Roots is
far more than a
skiffle book
I wanted to illuminate part of the
British cultural history that nobody
seems to really have tried to put into
context. Thats whats different about
my book. Other people have written
about skiffle from inside the actual
scene itself Chas McDevitt wrote a
great book, and likewise, Mike Dewe
wrote The Skiffle Craze. Other books
have mentioned skiffle in the context of
other 60s artists. They refer to skiffle.
They might have a couple of pages
explaining what it is. But they treat
Lonnie Donegan having a hit with Rock
Island Line as a singularity. It just
happened. Like the big bang. Boom.
But I wanted some context for that.
And I found that I was in a very fertile
area, which is the story of the first
British teenagers the first generation
of young people to define themselves
as not children and not adults. And that
to me was very interesting, that sort of
cultural power-source sweeping around
there. I think to say the book is about
skiffle really undersells it. Really, what
the book is about is the moment that
British pop music changes from being a
jazz-based confection for adults and
becomes a guitar-led music for
teenagers.
Roots, Radicals & Rockers: How
Skiffle Changed The World is out now,
published by Faber & Faber.
ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 71
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 STORY OF SKIFFLE

V i nce E age r
"I WAS T H E R E "

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As a teenager, Vince Eager was in
the Harmonica Vagabonds, later
the Vagabonds Skiffle Group,
with Roy Clark, Mick Fretwell, and
bassist Brian Locking
VR30.iwasthere.indd 73
Vince
Eager
WIDELY ACKNOWLEDGED
AS THE KING OF
SKIFFLE, THERE IS NO
UNDERESTIMATING THE
PROFOUND IMPORTANCE
THAT LONNIE DONEGAN
HAD ON BRITISH POP
MUSIC. HIS INFLUENCE
SPREAD FAR AND WIDE
NOT LEAST TO THE
EAST OF ENGLAND
WHERE A YOUNG
VINCE EAGERS VOICE
HAD JUST BROKEN...
D
uring my six years as a chorister in my
local church in Lincolnshire, Id risen
through the ranks as a boy soprano and
enjoyed all the trappings of evangelical
stardom: a choice of solos, extra pay for
weddings and funerals, and the best seat
in the junior choir stalls. But I hadnt
been warned about the trauma caused when a boys
voice broke. It hit me like a bombshell when I was
no longer an asset to the choir and my world fell
apart Being invited to join a harmonica act was in
many ways a lifeline.
A year earlier Id been invited to join a local
amateur dramatic group. My first production was
Aladdin and I played Simple Simon, and it was not
long after Aladdin that my voice broke. As a result
of my teenage vocals cracking, I was only offered
a minor role for the next show. During rehearsals
I was approached by fellow actor Roy Clark who
happened to be the harmonica player in a duo
called The Harmonica Vagabonds. Roy asked me if
Id like to join his band Id played a banjo but not
a harmonica, but I was game to try.
On meeting Roy, and his harmonica-playing
pal Brian Locking, we knuckled down rehearsing
and soon had a skiffle act. Brian proved to be an
awesome player and we were invited to play local
pubs, social clubs and Sunday night appearances on
stage at our cinema, The Grantham Granada.
ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 73
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 STORY OF SKIFFLE

A few weeks later I came across a magazine in

my uncles newsagents entitled, The New Musical
Express, the headline read: Lonnie Donegan To
Tour full details inside. Within seconds I had the
magazine open and was reading up on Lonnies
upcoming tour and his explanation as to the
background of skiffle.
The first indication of luck being on my side
was that Lonnie was making his variety debut at
The Nottingham Empire, only 25 miles from my
home. Secondly, his description of skiffle and the
instruments needed to play it gave us all the info
we needed to include it in our harmonica act.
Our concern wasnt who would play what, but
what instruments we could lay our hands on.
The first item was to be a tea-chest bass, and as
I was a joiner I decided I should make it myself.
Being friendly with the local Co-op manager
produced a tea chest, and I discovered a broom
handle and twine in my parents garage. Once
complete, the interest showed by Brian when
we were building the bass made it obvious he
wanted to be first choice, and he did indeed
grab the bass and could play it. He was a
natural. I decided to continue with the banjo
until I could get a guitar, and as
The Vagabonds Skiffle Group on BBC TVs Come Dancing Roy had already acquired a guitar

Our concern
during the final of the World Skiffle Championship at we became The Vagabonds
Streatham Locarno Skiffle Group, a combo that was

wasnt who would

complete when my neighbour
ROCK ISLAND LINE REVELATION John Holt agreed to play the

play what, but

Following our Granada appearances, washboard. We added Lonnies
and as a prelude to the main movie, the releases to our set list, which
cinema hosted a mass sing-along. As more than doubled with the

what instruments
hits by the likes of Johnnie Ray, Frankie release of Lonnies album
Laine, Doris Day, and Guy Mitchell Lonnie Donegan Showcase on

we could lay our

played, song lyrics would be displayed Nixa. From zero skiffle songs to
on the cinema screen and a little ball 20 plus, within a few months,

hands on..."
bounced on each of the lyrics syllables we were on our way and very
indicating the audience should sing. One much in demand.
night, out of the blue, there was a lone It was not long after the
acoustic guitar playing the same chord skiffle craze had taken off
over and over, then lyrics appeared on
the screen and a mans voice began talking: Now,
this here's the story about the Rock Island line,
Now, the Rock Island line is a railroad line and
it runs down into New Orleans, and just outside
of New Orleans is a big toll gate and all the
trains that go through the toll gate Suddenly
the tempo began to increase and the vocal
excitement kicked in. What the heck is all this?
I thought, it was brilliant!
I rushed to the managers office to ask for the
title of the song. The manager, affectionately
known as Uncle Harry, pressed a piece of paper
in my hand. It read: Rock Island Line by Lonnie
Donegan and his Skiffle Group. Decca Records.
The following day I was first
in line waiting for the record The Vagabonds Skiffle
shop to open. Group, featuring a
On hearing my newfound young Vince Eager,
reached the final of the
gem, Roy and Brian were also World Skiffle
suitably hooked. Championship

74 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30

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 Vince
Eager

support him at a festival. Following my set I was

when The Weekend magazine announced that in
conjunction with the BBC and Mecca Ballrooms
there was to be a World Skiffle
Championship with the final being
given a message to go to Lonnies dressing room.
Lonnie Donegan's last He was very complimentary and said that we
performance at Nottingham
Royal Concert Hall must work together again. I smiled: Only on the
condition that I can sing with you during your act.
Its a done deal, said Lonnie.

Following our TV
televised live from Streatham Locarno So it came to pass, I was
on BBC TVs Come Dancing we able to join Lonnie on stage at

decided to enter.
SOUND ADVICE FROM KING LONNIE
Shortly after having our skiffle contest
entry confirmed it was time to see
appearance Decca
the Nottingham Royal Concert
Hall. He was not well before
the show and four days later
had signed me and he sadly died of a heart attack.
The Nottingham Royal

I was cutting my
Lonnie perform in concert. I joined Concert Hall, the venue of
the autograph queue between the first Lonnies final appearance,

first record within

and second house performances and was built on the land formerly
waited at the end of the stage door occupied by the Nottingham
queue so I could maybe get to talk to Empire... where he had made

a few weeks!"
him longer. When I told him what his first variety debut with
songs we were doing he said hed like skiffle in 1956. The distance
to see us perform and invited me into between where the Empire and
his dressing room where he told me Concert Hall stages stood was
all about the origins of skiffle. I was only 25 feet. I often wonder
On stage in Nottingham
gobsmacked and bursting with excitement. Lonnie died on 3 November what skiffle song King Lonnie would have written
Arrangements were made and we got to perform 2002, aged 71 of such a coincidental, yet tragic tale.
three songs for Lonnie and his group, consisting
of Micky Ashman, Nick Nicol and Denny Wright.
Following our short set, Lonnie took me to one
side and told me that Brian and I really had it,
but Roy and Mick needed more time. Keep going
he said: you will make it, keep going. We did
keep going and two months later we appeared live
on BBC TV in the World Skiffle Championship.
We came second to The Lumberjacks, who were
six boys from a London orphanage.
However, following our TV appearance Decca
had signed me and I was cutting my first record
within a few weeks! I was invited to the launch
of a new music magazine called Disc Weekly. As
I entered the crowded reception, where many big
recording stars of the day had gathered, I heard a
voice shouting: Hey Vince, I told you, youd make
it! It was Lonnie wearing a huge grin.
I saw Lonnie on many occasions over the
intervening years, and in 2002 was booked to

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 STORY OF SKIFFLE

D O F I N F EC T I O US
G A N S D I Y B RAN
LONNIE DON ED AN ENTIRE GENERATION.
E
SKIFFLE INSPIR HRIES TELLS HIS STORY...
PATRICK HUMP

M
usical revolutionaries come in all shapes and sizes
and few would argue about Lonnie Donegans
place in the pop pantheon. A Glaswegian cockney;
a jazz-mad banjo player who single-handedly
turned a whole generation of rock stars
onto the guitar. Above all, a man who
influenced everyone from John
Lennon to Jack White.
Without Lonnie, the rock revolution
that convulsed the world during the
1960s would likely not have happened
at all. It was Lonnie who popularized
the homegrown, New Orleans style
of music known as skiffle and
turned it into an epidemic.
Skiffle was the punk of the
mid-1950s, and it made just as
many wannabe rockers pick up a
guitar. Skiffle was literally home-
made music: a tea chest bass, Mums
washboard, borrow a cheap Spanish
guitar, and bingo theres your

76 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30

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 Lo
Donengnanie

"It was like

hearing E lv
the first is for
Lonnie watsime...
giant" a

Getty

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 STORY OF SKIFFLE

skiffle group! But none New Orleans calling

Lonnie Donegan scored
of it would have been out to him. a hit in 1955 with a fast
possible without the In those days version of Lead Belly's
perseverance, tenacity long before Easyjet, Rock Island Line
and musical enthusiasm Ken had to join the
of Lonnie Donegan. Merchant Navy and
Anthony James sail round the world
Donegan was born until his ship docked
in Glasgow in April in Mobile, Alabama.
1931. His father was a There, he jumped ship,
professional musician, hitch-hiked to New
but wartime service Orleans and, with the
and his work on the help of his modest
transatlantic liners cornet-playing skills,
meant that they were never close. Moving to found himself sharing a stage with genuine jazz
East Ham, London, Tony was exposed to blues legends. But at a time when the Deep South of
and country music on the American Forces America was divided as strictly as apartheid
network, a lively antidote to the stuffy BBC. South Africa, Ken was soon arrested for sharing
The bomb-scarred capital remained a grim a stage with black musicians and deported back
sight after six years of war; rationing was to Great Britain. On arriving back home, Ken
still in force; and a single black and white Colyer was venerated as someone who had
television channel did little to entertain the seen, heard and played in the home of real jazz.
young. Popular music was strictly rationed by Lonnie joined the Colyer band on banjo, but it
BBC radio, but the smoky London jazz clubs of was while with Chris Barbers Jazz Band that
he made genuine musical history.
To allow the brass players time to

"Rock Island Line may cool off and indulge in a drink and a
smoke during those shows, a skiffle

not sound like Anarchy interlude was introduced between the

Getty
hot New Orleans jazz with Lonnie

In The UK, but its

leading the way. The jazz and skiffle
sessions proved such a success that

impact on a sleepy,
Decca Records decided to take a chance,
and get the Barber band to cut a record.

record buying public GET YOUR TICKET AT THE STATION...

was equally infectious"
the late-40s quickly became a magnet for the
music-mad teenagers.
Those too young to have fought in the war
now faced two years of National Service, and it
was while in Vienna with the army that Tony
heard more records by Hank Williams, Woody
Guthrie, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Lead Belly.
Another major influence was bluesman Lonnie
Johnson, whose name Tony would adopt.
By the time he was demobbed
in 1951, Lonnie was already a
familiar face in the jazz clubs
of London. Day jobs paid
for a banjo and he soon
found himself in one of
the capitals leading jazz
outfits. Ken Colyer was
another unsung hero
of the era; born in East
Anglia, Colyer recognised
History has 6 July, 1954 as the date
when the tectonic plates of music
shifted, and Elvis Presley let rip on
Arthur Big Boy Crudups Thats Alright
Mama in Sam Phillips Sun Studios in
Memphis, Tennessee. But an equally historic
session took place a week later, on 13 July, 1954,
at Deccas Hampstead studios.
After laying down some jazz tracks, The
Chris Barber Band followed their live custom
and Donegan led them into a skiffle session.
Four tracks were laid down in about 20
minutes, and would likely have disappeared
into history, had not one of them gone on to
make history.
Rock Island Line, released
in 1956, may not sound like
Anarchy In The UK, but
its impact on a sleepy,
record buying public
was equally infectious.
It was an odd record
to start such a
revolution: much of
its two minutes and
Getty

an elusive and tantalising 31 seconds is taken up

something in the music of by Lonnie speaking

78 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30

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Lonnie Donegan enjoyed
success with hit singles such
as Cumberland Gap and Does
Your Chewing Gum Lose Its
Flavour (On the Bedpost
Overnight?), before turning
to music hall
VR30.lonniedonegan.indd 79
"Elvis and rocknroll were
just too distant - and
listing the contents of a railway carriage
too unattainable. But
so as to avoid paying a toll. But when the
record picks up a little bit of steam, the
Rock Island Line gets the green light,
and it was all systems go.
Lonnie recalled The Chris Barber
Bands bassist, Jim Bray, coming in with
a copy of Record Mirror and being told
that Rock Island Line was: in what they
call the Hit Parade so we all had a good
laugh. But we were totally removed from all
this, we were jazz players, and that was a
totally different world from records.
For Lonnie though, the world had turned
upside down. The crowds coming to see The
Chris Barber Band were really just there for
the skiffle interlude.
Throughout 1956, Lonnie enjoyed further
hits with Lost John and Lead Bellys Bring
A Little Water Sylvie. But it was during 1957
that skiffle really
caught on
In that year
alone, Lonnie
enjoyed two No.1
hits (Cumberland
Gap and Gamblin
Man). But it was his
musical influences,
infectious
personality and
Lo
Donengnanie
energetic concert performance
that really got the nation
rockin. And I can testify that he
was rocking right up to the end. A powerhouse
performer, with that intoxicating hybrid of folk
and blues material, songs with little stories,
that caught the nations attention.
Elvis and rocknroll were just too distant
and too unattainable. But Lonnies breezy,
DIY style was easy to emulate. And boy, did
skiffle catch on: The Beatles began as a skiffle
outfit called the Quarrymen; Van Morrison,
Jimmy Page, Pete Townshend, Hank Marvin,
Keith Richards, Rory Gallagher, Gerry Rafferty,
Graham Nash, Roger Daltrey, Brian May, Bert
Jansch are just some of the names who picked
up a guitar thanks to Lonnie Donegan. For the
Strawbs Dave Cousins: Lonnie was the first
person I saw on TV playing a guitar, the only
other ones wed seen were singing cowboys at
the kids cinema matinees.
Paul McCartney told me: He was great in
the middle of all those Dickie Valentines, and
very, very good. It was like hearing Elvis for the
first time, only before. Lonnie was a giant!
Lonnies breezy, DIY style
was easy to emulate. And
boy, did skiffle catch on"
Speaking to me not long before his death,
John Peel enthused: Without Lonnie, there
would have been nothing! I think Lonnie
was actually it, way beyond skiffle. He was sort
of discredited though, and people picked up
on more fashionable names to advance as the
fathers of British popular music. But they were
wrong! Peel picked up on one of the reasons
why I believe Lonnie remains an unsung
hero. His pioneering skiffle songs inspired an
entire generation,
but soon Lonnie
was embraced by
the showbusiness
establishment, and
the hits became less
challenging many
take 1959s novelty
Does Your Chewing
Gum Lose Its Flavour
(On The Bedpost
ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 79
26/05/2017 14:04
 STORY OF SKIFFLE
Towards the end of his life,
Overnight?) as the Gallagher, Leo Sayer and Lonnie Donegan gained
start of the decline. Ronnie Wood all made the cut. some of the recognition he
felt was long overdue
But it was 1960s My Paul McCartney and Graham
Old Mans A Dustman Nash were sorry not to make it.
that for many sealed
his fate, and saw him ... ITS THE ROAD TO RIDE
become the now vilified Towards the end of his life,
all-round entertainer. Lonnie gained some of the
Lonnie was soon sucked recognition he felt was long
in to the world of cabaret overdue. In 1991 he was
and pantomime. He had the subject of This Is Your
his own TV series; clips Life, and in 1999 played a
can still be seen of a grinning Lonnie, wearing storming set at Glastonbury Festival. He was awarded
a bow-tie, indulging in banter with showbiz an MBE the following year.
chums like Des OConnor. Yet when it came Long-time Lonnie fan Mark Knopfler was
to his own material, Lonnie was still always at delighted when his long-time hero joined him and
pains to point out the origin of the song, Grand his own skiffle group, the Notting Hillbillies, on stage.
Coulee Dam was by that singing troubadour His energy was unbelievable for a bloke his age,
Woody Guthrie. Knopfler told me. He was bus pass material by then,
There was always a dichotomy in Donegans but he did Frankie & Johnny at about a 100 miles
material. His 1961 single Michael Row The Boat an hour!
Ashore was a spirited, poignant reading of an Further acknowledgement came Lonnies way
old spiritual; its B-Side, Lumbered, a piece of when another fan, Van Morrison, recorded The
music hall nonsense. And that is at the heart Skiffle Sessions Live in Belfast 1998 album with
of the problem pop Lonnie and his old boss, Chris
historians have with Barber. A further and weirder

"Without
Lonnie he sold out. tribute came in 2010, when
The two sides of that Tangerine Dreams Edgar Froese

Lonnie there
coin are exemplified by admitted that the first record he
a track on the 1958 LP ever bought was My Old Mans

would have
Lonnie. A pensive and
heartfelt reading of Aint
No More Cane On The
Brazos to my mind, one
of the best interpretations been no
of a negro spiritual by any
white singer. Yet just a few Quarrymen, and
months before, Lonnie had
appeared in pantomime as without them,
Wishee Washee! For many
this move to middle of the
road entertainment was seen
no Beatles "
as a betrayal.
Lonnies renaissance came thanks to Adam
Faith. A huge fan of Lonnies back in the skiffle
days, Adam put together the 1978 tribute
album, Putting On The Style which saw Lonnie
re-recording his old hits, in the company of
those admirers whose careers would probably
never have begun without him Brian May,
Ringo Starr, Elton John, Albert Lee, Rory
A Dustman!
Typically, Lonnie remained
in harness until the very end.
After being invited by Eric
Clapton, he was looking
forward to taking part in
the George Harrison tribute
concert at the Albert Hall.
But within hours of leaving
the stage after playing a
typically energetic show
in Nottingham, Lonnie
Donegans heart finally gave
up. He died on 3 November, 2002, aged 71.
Lonnie could be a difficult man. He moaned,
perhaps more than he should have, about the
debt the UK music industry owed him. But then
he was right they did! Without
Lonnie there would have been no
Quarrymen, and without them, no
Beatles And just imagine what an
empty world that would have been!
At the end of the day, the quote
that best sums it up for me is from
Ringo Starr, talking in a 2016 ITV
documentary. He said simply:
It was Lonnie that got us out
of the factories
Patricks book Lonnie Donegan
And The Birth Of British Rock
& Roll the first-ever full-length
biography of Lonnie, is published
by the Robson Press.

80 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30

VR30.lonniedonegan.indd 80 26/05/2017 14:05

 Lo
Donengnanie

Getty

ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 81

VR30.lonniedonegan.indd 81 26/05/2017 14:06

 STORY OF SKIFFLE

++

82 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30

Untitled-6 82 26/05/2017 16:15

 S
ixty years ago in
April 1957 the Royal Festival
Hall staged Londons first
major skiffle concert, those
on the bill including the Chas
McDevitt Skiffle Group, the
Avon City Ramblers and
Johnny Duncan. Extracts from the show
appear on a CD which accompanied
Chas McDevitts Skiffle: The Definitive
Inside Story, updated and reissued by
Rollercoaster Books in 2012.
The reaction of the audience that night
says everything about how the music, for
a couple of ecstatic years in the second
half of the 1950s, captured the hearts of
the British public.
And 1957 was the year it reached it
reached its commercial peak. Chass
group had a massive cross- Channel hit
with Freight Train, and appeared in The
Tommy Steele Story, the first British

Skiffle would quickly cras

apart by the rocknroll exh and burn, blown
compete for noise and re plosion. It couldnt
bel attitude
rocknroll film. Lonnie Donegan, whod
already tasted international success
with Rock Island Line, took Cumberland
Gap, Puttin On The Style and Gamblin
Man to No.1 in the UK charts. Johnny
Duncan, with his scintillating, bluegrass-
flavoured approach, had a massive hit
with Last Train To San Fernando, and
registered smaller entries with the no less
exhilarating Blue, Blue Heartache and
Footprints In The Snow.
The Vipers had Top 10 hits with Dont

STRIPPED BACK AND DEFIANTLY DIY,

You Rock Me Daddy-O and Cumberland
Gap, though they cruelly, but ultimately

THE BRITISH SKIFFLE BOOM WAS A

unsurprisingly, were outflanked by
the remorseless Donegans more

HOMEGROWN MUSICAL MOVEMENT THAT

incendiary covers. Even Joe Meek was
in on the action. Jimmy Miller and The

INFLUENCED MANY OF OUR BIGGEST

Barbecues Sizzlin Hot was his first
effort as an independent producer, and he

MUSICAL STARS. JACK WATKINS LOOKS

embellished the track with what would
become trademark touches and one of

BACK AT THE CAREER OF ONE OF ITS

the most original studio treatments of
skiffle. These, along with the unluckily

LEADING LIGHTS CHAS MCDEVITT

hitless Avon City Ramblers with Ray
Bush, and Dickie Bishop, were just the
cream of a vast movement, with groups
playing in clubs and pubs across the land
to varying standards.

ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 83

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 STORY OF SKIFFLE
Sparking up: Chas pictured on the
set during the making of the 1957
fim The Tommy Steele Story
The craze wasnt to last. Skiffle would
quickly crash and burn, blown apart
by the rocknroll explosion. It couldnt
compete for noise, rebel attitude and
originality. But its energy can still be
felt in the records of the most notable
performers. The work of McDevitt,
Donegan and Duncan, in particular,
during the boom period is consistently
thrilling. Its unsurprising that those who
e online, make sure you seek out the Chas
were young at the time looked on skiffl
as the British take on rockabilly.
These days Chas McDevitt has a house
on the banks of the Thames near Eton.
He stills performs, mixing up his
repertoire, as most of the best skifflers
always did, with a range of material
drawn from the jazz, folk, blues,
country and pop fields, while being
the semi-official skiffle oracle.
FROM THE PUBS TO TOPPING THE BILL
Just recently The Jive Aces paid subtle
ed,
tribute by doing a version of Im Satisfi
p in a sanatorium I picked up a banjo for
a Jazz Age song Chas and his grou
had vigorously reworked in 1957. In the
n,
video, viewable on YouTube, he is show
the
guitar under his arm, walking into
former 2is Coffee Bar, which is now
a fish and chip shop, on Old Compton
84 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30
VR30.chasmcdevitt.indd 84
n ie Do ne ga n blew aw ay t he
Lon d m ad e it
elitist p om po sity , an
cc es s ible to t he m as se s ...
a
rhythm and blues numbers with the
Street, Soho. He sits down at a table in
rhythm section, which consisted
nostalgic reverie and glances across at
of a banjo, piano, bass, drums and
a photo of the bar in its heyday. The
washboard. This was in 1952, making
picture dissolves into the excellent Jives
him contemporary to the skiffle
Aces performing the number. But while
sets which the Ken Colyer Band were
playing, with Lonnie Donegan on
McDevitt Top Of The Bill archive footage
banjo and Chris Barber on bass.
of his own group performing Im Satisfied
Colyer is regarded as the spiritual
live in 1957. It swings like nothing else,
godfather of skiffle, and Pete Frame in
and includes a blistering washboard solo
his The Restless Generation describes
by Marc Sharratt. The passing of the
his early Crane River Jazz Band as
years hasnt diminished the sparkle of
playing in a rocknroll spirit before
this two and half minute performance a
the term was known. Chas says
single jot.
that phrase would have had Colyer
Chas was in on skiffle from the
turning in his grave. He was a purist,
beginning, growing up in Camberley, in
devoted to performing Lead Belly
Surrey. As a kid I played football and
was selected for England Schools, but I songs. To begin with, he wouldnt even
have an electric guitar in his band.
was taken ill with pleurisy. While I was
Instead it was Donegan, with his
theatrical love of the limelight, who
the first time, he recalls. When he came
really broke the music into the big
out he sat in with a local jazz band the
time. The first time I saw Lonnie he
High Curley Stompers. He began singing
was leading his Tony Donegan Jazz
Band, which was in 1952, recalls
Chas. He came out with the band,
put a chair up in front of them, slung
26/05/2017 12:05

his leg over it, and sang Sweet Heart Of
Jesus, a Catholic hymn. Actually, I sang it
at his memorial service to remind people
of it. So even at that early stage, he was
pushing himself to the forefront. When
his forceful personality met that
of Colyers, who was more reticent and
laid back, they didnt get on.
Until the success of Donegans Rock
Island Line, almost recorded as an
afterthought for a Chris Barber album
New Orleans Joys, made after Colyer
had been sacked from the band, skiffle
was an underground music of the
coffee bars and jazz clubs. Donegan
blew away the elitist pomposity, and
made it accessible to the masses and
commercially viable. Suddenly, records
labels were interested in signing up
promising young skiffle artists.
By now, Chas had moved up to London,
initially joining the remnants of Colyers
original band, now the New Crane River
Band. He extended their repertoire in a
way the more scholarly traditional jazzer
Colyer would never have done, gradually
incorporating everything from Big Bill
Broonzy and Big Joe Turner songs, to
ones by Hank Williams and Bill Haley.
Eventually breaking his skiffle section
away from the Cranes, Chas also noticed
the nature of the audiences was changing
VR30.chasmcdevitt.indd 85
Chas with blues legends
Muddy Water and Otis Spann
and expanding. When we played the
Kingsbury Baths in North London, the
audience was full of Teddy boys, and we
played what we liked, says Chas.
It was washboard player Marc
Sharratt, with Chas since the High
Curley Stompers days, who suggested
FOR THE RECORD
The Bear Family Records The Chas McDevitt Skiffl
e Group is
they approach Bill Varley to see if he a 28-track CD containing the groups recordings
and subsidiary label Embassy between 1956 and
for Oriole
could get them a record deal. 1959. It
conveys the versatility and musicality of this most
Varley had a little portable recording dynamic
of all the 50s skiffle bands. McDevitt retained faith
almost
machine and went around recording throughout in the washboard, which Lonnie Doneg
an
people like The Vipers and Tommy Steele forsook at an early stage for drums, doubtless helpe
d by
the brilliance of Marc Sharratt. The rich personality
at the local Soho coffee bars, explains
vocalists, including Chas himself, Nancy Whiskey,
of the
Chas. He had a studio, Trio Recordings, Tony
Kohn and Bill Bramwell is a delight, as is the loose-
on the top floor of No.6 Denmark Street, limbed
rhythmic thrust on the purely skiffle numbers.
the same building in which the Sex
Pistols rehearsed 20 years later, and
which was recently Listed. Matt Monro,
who was a bus conductor at the time,
used to come in and do the demos for
music publishers.
BOOM TOWN BOYS
One of the songs what was now known as
the Chas McDevitt Skiffle Group demoed
for Varley was a version of Freddie Bell
and The Bellboys Giddy Up A Ding Dong,
and Chas reckons they could easily have
gone down that stylistic route if Oriole
Records, the independent company
which signed them up, had decided
to put that out as a single. Instead
ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 85
26/05/2017 12:06
 STORY OF SKIFFLE
Chas McDevitt and Nancy
Whiskeys Freight Train
at the Soho Carnival
THE ME ANING
OF SK IFFLE
The British skiffle boom took its inspiration from the work
songs, Mississippi blues, and folk and barrelhouse ballads
that were performed on homemade instruments like the
tea chest bass, washboard and jug by southern migrant
workers to the northern American states in their rent
parties of the 20s and 30s. But whereas for Ken Colyer it
meant rigidly adhering to songs by the likes of Lead Belly,
younger performers stretched their interpretations, and it
has always defied easy definition. He said: When we did
Freight Train on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1957, we used the
great Hank Garland on guitar. We didnt have any charts
and he said: What do you want me to play? I said: Just
go um-ching-a-ching-ching. He looked at me and said:
Are you sure?
86 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30
Untitled-6 86
of t h e m o st like a ble
Chas had one c tin g m o re
sk iff le v oices , in je
an m a n y c o nt em po r ar ie s
feeling th
they decided to release the groups
interpretation of Freight Train, an old
Elizabeth Cotton song that had been a
club favourite.
Wed just won a series of talent shows
on Radio Luxembourg in which a young
folk singer Nancy Whiskey has also taken
part, and Varley suggested we get bring
her in to do the vocal, says Chas, who
had sung on the original demo, and was to
do his own hardly less exciting cut of the
song a few months later.
But its the Nancy Whiskey recording
that has gone down as one of the great
skiffle anthems. We recorded it in Levys
Studios in New Bond Street in December
1956, and I think it might have been the
same time the Million Dollar Quartet met
up in the Sun Studios, laughs Chas, who
has mixed emotions about his million-
seller. Jack Baverstock was an astute
A&R man but as for being a producer,
well, there is feedback in the middle of
the track, and its out of tune, but he just
didnt notice.
Neither did the public, with sales
taking it to No.5 in the UK charts, while it
also broke into the Top 40 of the US Top
100. Sadly, a tour of the US, in which they
appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, was
marred by a lawsuit from Peggy Seeger
contesting song ownership. It was
settled out of court with everyone given
equal ownership, but it put a damper on
the thing at the time, says Chas.
The group should have had more
hits, but Orioles scattergun approach to
issuing new singles stymied their chances,
although Greenback Dollar did enter
the Top 30. That doesnt stop them from
being classics now. The group tackled
more varied material than other skifflers,
notably classy numbers like Face In
The Rain, and Chas had one of the most
likeable skiffle voices, injecting more
feeling than many contemporaries.
26/05/2017 16:17

At the 2is, left to right, Alex Whitehouse
guitar, Marc Sharratt (washboard) and Chas
SKIFFLE IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Lacking Donegans nervy intensity
and power or Duncans hillbilly
and
purity, Chas conveyed enjoyment
ity whe re so man y othe r skiffle
personal
vocalists were simply monotonous.
Prime examples of the appealing
g,
McDevitt vocal style are Cotton Son
New Orleans (House Of The Rising
Sun), Banana Boat Song and Bad Man
Stackolee. The McDevitt versions
of Dont You Rock Me Daddy-O and
most
Cumberland Gap are arguably the
e
rollicking of the many efforts on thes
the
songs which was done to death at
The supp le rhyt hms , and the cries
time.
group
and shouts of Chas and his fellow
members are intoxicating.
,
Along with John Paul on bass fiddle
whose style at times approached that
also
of the rockabilly slap bassists, they
ard
had one of best and noisiest washbo
such
players, Marc Sharratt. Marc had
sm, agre es Cha s. He d wea r
enthusia
r
thimbles, but he had a standing orde
with Timothy Whites because hed
in
knock the washboard inserts flat with
ed
a week, and have bits of zinc embedd
in his fingers.
VR30.chasmcdevitt.indd 87
While the personnel of the band
changed quite quickly, other key
contributors to the sound were Bill
Bramwell, a superb electric guitarist,
and veteran bass player Lennie
Harrison, a Ronald Colman lookalike
and incorrigible ladies man, who had
worked with Fats Waller and Benny
Carter before the War. When Whiskey,
whod always been a reluctant skiffler,
left to have a baby, she was replaced by
Shirley Douglas, whose contralto can
be heard on the beautiful song Across
The Bridge, which was the theme music
to the Rod Steiger film of that name.
Later singles in 1958 reflected the
fading of skiffle, and Chas last single for
Oriole, Teenage Letter was out and out
rocknroll. Chas and Shirley Douglas
would continue working, however,
touring as the support act to the likes
of The Beatles, and writing material for
Cliff Richard and Vince Taylor. Chas
recently did a gig at The Cavern, backed
by the original Quarrymen, to mark
the 60th anniversary of the opening of
the club. His own daughter Kerry has
also accompanied him on washboard,
PIG IRON,
WASHBOARDS,
FREIGHT TRAINS
& KAZOOS
There are plenty of skiffle compilations available, but
Acrobats 4CD 120-track The Skiffle Boom 1954-57 contains
all the biggies, plus quite a few more. Alongside the
commercial work of the likes of Donegan and McDevitt,
there are examples of the more correct interpretations
of old black folk songs by Peggy Seeger, which are either
charming or dull, according to your taste. Theres plenty of
Ken Colyer, too. The Guvnor had a pleasing whisky-tinged
voice, but the songs were rather one-paced, and its easy
to see why he was quickly elbowed aside by Mr Donegan.
don
and along with working with the Lon
Cha s
Philharmonic Skiffle Orchestra,
son
has even been working with Lonnies
grea test
Peter Donegan. Chas was Lonnies
the skiffl e
commercial rival at the height of
essf ul
era when they were its most succ
21st
popularisers. How fitting that in the
app eari ng
century their names should be
on the same bill.
Chas performs alongside his
daughter Kerry, Joe Brown and
Brian May in 2004
ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 87
26/05/2017 12:07
 LONG
Vinyl! LIVE Kickin Child
The Lost Album
DION DIMUCCI

Columbia Records didnt do
Dion DiMucci right when it
came to programming his mid-
60s albums. The corporate
monolith was cool with the

FROM OBSCURE REISSUES TO LONG-LOST Bronx rocker crooning My

Mammy and Go Away, Little

UNHEARD RECORDINGS, WE DIG OUT SOME

Girl on his 1963 LP Ruby Baby,
but when Dion transformed
himself into a snarling

GREAT NEW RELEASES FROM THE LIKES OF folk-rocker under the auspices
of producer Tom Wilson, the

THE COCHRAN BROTHERS, DION AND IKE suits at Columbia shelved the
highly promising set. Norton

TURNER & THE KINGS OF RHYTHM BY BILL DAHL

Records has finally rescued
Kickin Child, Dions 1965
masterpiece, and released it in
RECOMMENDED GREAT AVERAGE PATCHY AVOID the form it so richly deserves.

I
ts a wild mix in this edition of Long Live Vinyl. Theres
a long-lost Dion album from his transformative period, a
dollop of rollicking country and rockabilly, some mind-
Stressin The Strings Past Midnight hail from
his mid-50s stint at RPM,
JOHNNY GUITAR WATSON
blowing R&B, classy 60s soul, and a couple of rocknroll while Watson adopted a
anthologies with titles so strange that we know not what to more mature approach at
make of them (but the music therein is splendid). Lets dive Johnny Watson was an King during the early-60s,
into the fray, shall we? astonishing 50s blues typified by his majestic
guitarists. A true genius Cuttin In and an after-
by the time he hit his late hours In The Evening.
teens, he unleashed vicious The set closes with
barrages of bent notes Johnnys hard-charging
without the use of a pick. instrumental Late Freight
Southern Routes Twist, another jaw-
18-track overview of dropping example of his
Watsons early years cuts fret mastery.
a wide swath through the
Texas natives daring work
for several labels,
leading with his
1954 Federal
Records
masterpiece
Space Guitar,
still a mind-
boggler.
Hot Little
Mama, Too
Tired, and the
downbeat stunner
Three Hours

VR30.llv.indd 88 26/05/2017 14:21

 Latch On With The
Cochran Brothers
THE COCHRAN BROTHERS
No, they werent blood
brothers, but Hank and Eddie
Cochran did cut some fine
country and rockabilly duets
in LA in 1955-56.
RWAs 10 LP is split into
two styles: Side one showcases
the pairs country efforts,
including a bouncy Mr. Fiddle
and Two Blue Singin Stars.
Hanks reading of the proto-
rockabilly Latch On closes the
side, and a full-out rocking
duet rendition opens side two.
Eddie was lightning on his
axe, unleashing it on Fools
Paradise, Slow Down, and the
slamming Tired And Sleepy.
Were Gonna Have
A Party! The Soul
Of Wand Records
VARIOUS
Although better known for its
One of this years Record Store
Day musts was this 14-track
compilation, from Sundazed,
culled from the vaults of
Florence Greenbergs Wand
Records a prime source for
classy 1960s soul.
Pressed on gold wax, it
includes Wally Coxs This
Man, Darryl Stewarts Name
It And Claim It and a slab of
searing Memphis soul from
the Masqueraders, Do You
Love Me Baby?
At last look, the album was
still available via the website
at http://sundazed.com.
VR30.llv.indd 89
Why Baby Why
GEORGE JONES
Just when you thought you
owned everything George
Jones waxed for Starday and
Mercury via Bear Familys
Birth Of A Legend boxset,
along comes RWAs Why Baby
Why, featuring 10 previously
unreleased 1956-57 sides
culled from rare Armed Forces
Radio transcriptions.
Cut in front of a small
audience, it features Why
Baby Why, You Gotta Be My
Baby, Too Much Water, and
Dont Stop The Music. Youll
also find renditions of Bobby
Helms smash Fraulein and
Ernest Tubbs classic Lets Say
Goodbye Like We Said Hello.
Dor Northern Soul
LA Black Music Magic
VARIOUS
pop output from the late-50s
on, Lew Bedells LA-based
Dor label was also a hotbed
for fine soul.
Kents 14-song compilation
unearths a host of delectable
obscurities from its vaults;
The Superbs are here twice
with Wind In My Sails and I
Wanna Do It With You Baby,
and theyre probably the most
familiar name on the LP.
Rita & the Tiaras, Little
Johnny Hamilton & the
Creators, Kenard Gardner, and
the Entertainers IV all chime
in with quality items.
Stolen love
MISS LAVELL
IKE TURNER & THE KINGS OF RHYTHM
Miss LaVells late-50s/
early-60s output for Don
Robeys Houston-based Duke
label was very popular along
the Gulf Coast and influential
to more than a few aspiring
R&B chanteuses of the era.
Her blues-kissed vocal
delivery on Teen-Age Love,
Yes, Ive Been Crying, Stop
These Teardrops, and the title
track fit right in with the
overall stylistic approach of
her celebrated labelmates
Bobby Blue Bland and
Junior Parker, and the brassy,
highly danceable Why Young
Men Go Wild had Miss LaVell
at her sassiest.
Buzzsaw Joint
Diddy Wah Cut 1
VARIOUS
No idea what the title of this
16-song collection from
Stag-O-Lee signifies, but the
overall concept revolves
around insane 1950s and
early-60s rocknroll and R&B.
It features Johnny Aces
Please Dont Go (Back To
Baltimore), Eugene Blacknell
& His Savonics Jump Back,
Jimmy Becks Arabian Blues,
Sammy Fitzhughs I Feel
Alright and Billy Garners
Little School Girl. Throw in
obscurities by the Canjoes, the
Egyptians and Rex Garvin &
the Mighty Cravers, and
youve got a party and a half.
She Made My
Blood Run Cold
The 1950s R&B scene didnt
get any wilder than the
catalogue of Ike Turner & The
Kings Of Rhythm. Ike
conjured up axe pyrotechnics
that no one dreamed doable,
and he spotlighted a parade of
potent-throated vocalists who
were up to the task of fronting
his relentless combo.
Southern Routes has
gathered up 17 savage
piledrivers, including: Billy
Gayles-fronted Im Tore Up,
Clayton Loves eerie title track
and Jackie Brenstons
unstoppable Gonna Wait
For My Chance.
Buzzsaw Joint Astro
138 And DJ Zorch Cut 2
VARIOUS
The mystery deepens
regarding the title of Stag-O-
Lees second helping of crazed
rarities, but if you ever
wondered what Charlie
Daniels was up to prior to
reporting on what the devil
was doing down in Georgia,
this sets Robot Romp will give
you a pretty fair indication.
Anyone with the guts to call
himself Whispering Pigg has
to have been a little unhinged,
and his Darlene doesnt
disappoint. The Bikinis, Duke
& the Ambers, Los Twisters,
and the Gimicks keep things
hopping to the end.
ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 89
26/05/2017 14:23
 Album
REVIEWS Hiway 51
FOOT TAPPING RECORDS

Talented newcomers strike
out with a debut comprising
carefully chosen covers
alongside four originals, all
given an Americana/rockabilly
feel that will appeal to those
who may not have cared for

IN THIS ISSUE JOHN HOWARD GETS HIS EARS the originals.

Early Morning Rain and

AROUND RELEASES FROM HIWAY51, ALICE

Gentle On My Mind may have
been middle of the road in the

JAYNE, LIVE RECORDINGS FROM ROY ORBISON

hands of the originators, but
are given a fresh new coat of
paint in the treatments here.

AND A GREAT 50-TRACK CELEBRATION OF THE Paul Barker is not only the
main songwriter, he also

UNSUNG HEROES OF BRITISH ROCK AND ROLL designed the cover, so we have
a double threat talent, even if
his spelling leaves a little to
LOVE IT BUY IT STREAM IT PONDER IT AVOID IT be desired!

The Unsung Heroes of British Rock and Roll

JASMINE

A cracking 50-track, double CD, which represents nearly
all of the UK rocknroll hitmakers, and is a complete
collection in itself. The British record industry finally
woke up and realised that Lita Roza and Dickie Valentine The Lincolns Alice Jayne
covering US hits wasnt going to work any more, and set KINGS OF THE COOP INSIDE THE COVER
out to discover home-grown talent a tad younger than the RAUCOUS RECORDS ROLLIN RECORDS
dance band singers and over-the-hill crooners.
They came up with Tommy Steele and Terry Dene, A second CD release from an An eclectic selection of
Vince Eager and Wee Willie Harris and dozens more who Australian band whose debut, revivals from a nicely turned
could rock with authority and enthusiasm, and didnt Teddy Boy RocknRoll, on this out young lady who has
necessarily wear bow ties for their TV appearances. label led to acclaimed UK and already bagged gigs on major
Calling this collection unsung heroes does a disservice European appearances. festivals before this came out.
to Johnny Kidd And The Pirates, Laurie London and This latest comprises a full Rollin Records have paired
Vince Taylor, all of whom had hits back in the day. 16 tracks many of them her with the cream of session
Included here are the first British rocknroll originals: self-penned originals, while musicians on covers from acts
Rock With The Caveman, the revivals like Marie Marie as unlikely as Bob Dylan,
and two contenders for the and Lucky Lips are competent. Gnarls Barkley, and Dr
best British rocker, Taylors Lead vocals are crisp and Feelgoods Wilko Johnson.
Brand New Cadillac, and clear, and the American This has the benefit of
Kidds Shakin All Over. accents are as authentic as the turning pop hits into numbers
Since they are absent, UK bands that plough the that might appeal to rockers,
the good folk at Jasmine same furrow. but ten tracks, with one cut
must be saving Cliff The Coop of the title track is twice does not represent the
Richard and Billy Fury not an Adelaide rocknroll best possible value. Still, its a
for another collection. club but rather a tale of a start and it will be interesting
rooster who rules the barn. to see where she goes next.

90 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30

VR30.albums.indd 90 26/05/2017 11:49


The Raccoons
ALL DRAPED UP
RAUCOUS RECORDS
Unlike most rocknroll and
rockabilly bands around today,
Australian four-piece The
Raccoons are inspired by
British Teddy Boy rocknroll,
and certainly look and sound
the part.
Formed in 1987, the current
line-up has been together for
five years and it was a debut
EP that inspired Raucous to
suggest a full-length.
All 12 tracks here are
originals and most cross-refer
to the rocking and biking
fraternity. Some of the tracks
are on the heavy side, but
dancers will find plenty here
to keep their toes tapping.
Roy Orbison
LIVE IN CONCERT 19671987
FLM RECORDS
ACE RECORDS
Just when you thought you
had everything Roy Orbison
recorded in the studio and on
stage, up pops this collection
of live recordings featuring
not only Roys well-known
material, but one-offs few
knew existed.
Land Of 1,000 Dances, Neil
Diamonds Sweet Caroline,
Communication Breakdown,
Bridge Over Troubled Water,
and even The Beatles Help!
are among the obscurities.
Taken from concerts in both
Holland and Australia, the
sound quality is acceptable. As
youd expect, the vocalising is
way beyond acceptable.
VR30.albums.indd 91
The Platters
ROCK
BEAR FAMILY
appearances on teatime TVs Six Five Special that led
The Platters were, without
doubt, one of the biggest
selling vocal groups of the
rocknroll era on both sides of
the Atlantic. Famed for both
their ballads and the singing
of lead vocalist Tony Williams,
they cut their share of
uptempo dance numbers, and
Germanys Bear Family have
collected them together for
this foot-tapping collection.
Stand-outs for me include
the familiar Bark, Battle and
Ball, On a Slow Boat to China,
and Darktown Strutters Ball.
It includes a 36-page
booklet to make you an instant
expert on Platters matters.
Various
SWAMP POP BY THE BAYOU
LETS GET TOGETHER TONIGHT
UK only B-Sides, alongside his huge hits in rocknroll
like Queen Of The Hop and Dream Lover, and his later
This is volume 17 of Ian
Saddlers compilations of 50s
and 60s music from Louisiana
and East Texas. This is the
third to concentrate on the
swamp-pop genre.
The mixture, as usual,
includes hits, rarities, and
debuts of future stars like
Johnny Winter and guitarist
James Burton.
There is a generous 28
tracks here to delight
newcomers to the genre and
a fair number of outright
rockers from the likes of
Rocket Morgan, Jivin Gene
and Warren Storm.
Marty Wilde
WALK ON THE WILDE SIDE THE SINGLES COLLECTION 1957-1962
JASMINE
The former Reg Smith has adopted the mantle of
respected older statesman of British rocknroll, filling
theatres on his regular tours.
So a 32-track overview of his output for the Phillips
label is likely to find a ready market. It was his
to his recording contract. The steady exposure, latterly
on Oh Boy! and Boy Meets Girls, propelled most of his
recordings into the charts.
His takes of US originals such as Endless Sleep, Donna,
A Teenager In Love, Rubber Ball enjoyed considerable
chart success and he wouldnt have achieved that if his
covers had been inferior. Unlike, contemporaries such as
Johnnie Ray and Billy Fury, who started out recording self-
penned material and then
moved on to covers, Marty
discovered his songwriting
abilities a little later in
his career. This set also
boasts his only American
chart entry on the self-
penned Bad Boy and fine
sleevenotes by compiler
Arthur Wilkinson.
Bobby Darin
THINGS THE SINGLES COLLECTION 1956-1962
JASMINE
You would think that for a consistent hitmaker like the late
Bobby Darin, a complete recorded works must be easily
available on CD, but those keen-eared folk at Jasmine
Records would beg to differ. This generous 64-track
compilation includes very rare promos and hard to find
swinging sides like Mack The Knife and Beyond The Sea.
Darin is regarded as one of the classiest singers of his
generation, and he carved out a successful parallel career
as a credible actor. Of course, he took time to find his
authentic voice, and this chronological collection opens
with his take on Rock Island Line which some might say
was surplus to requirements. But when he finally started
having hits, opening with
the novelty Splish Splash,
he maintained a consistent
standard that led to 30 chart
entries before 1962 was out.
Much of this is easy
listening, but there are
plenty of hard rockers that
could lead this collection to
be filed under easy dancing.
ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 91
26/05/2017 11:50
 ALBUM REVIEWS

The Cashbox Kings

ROYAL MINT
ALLIGATOR

It would appear the UK
craze for blues-boppers
has spread across the The Big Jamboree Huelyn Duvall
Atlantic. This band, just A NIGHT OF JUMP BLUES THREE MONTHS TO KILL
signed to the respected EL TORO RICHARD WEIZE ARCHIVES
Chicago label Alligator, not only play gutbucket authentic
blues and proto-rocknroll, they also mix Chicago blues Augie Burr, lead singer of The The former boss and guiding
with Memphis rockabilly which they describe as Velvet Candles, Spains light of Germanys superb
bluesabilly. But we, of course, know better. premier doo-wop group, is a Bear Family label is going it
There are six impressive originals among the 13 tracks busy man. He is also the voice alone, and Richard Weize has
here and the cover versions on offer feature numbers of Barcelonas The Big dug deep into his obviously
by artists such as blues legends Robert Johnson, Muddy Jamboree, and, as anticipated, massive archives for this
Waters and Junior Wells. is spot-on with accent, timely release.
Fronting the band is the powerhouse duo of songwriter phrasing, and, indeed choice Huelyn made a welcome
Joe Nosek on harmonica and Chicago bluesman Oscar of material. return to Hemsby RocknRoll
Wilson on vocals. The originals have titles like Blues For Twelve tracks in all, split weekender and this collection
Chi-Raq and If Youve Got A Jealous Woman, Facebook 50/50 between revivals and includes the title track, a
Aint Your Friend. originals, show that some of handful of unheard rockers,
Its great to hear such authentic sounds and hard-hitting, the European acts performing and even some studio chatter
but amusing, originals and if you dont put it on your must- this sort of material are among to add to the atmosphere.
buy this month, at least put in your must-listen list, youll the very best in the world. Recorded originally
like it. Originals like Tick Tack and between 1957 and 1959, this
Nice cover art, too, so I suspect we will be hearing more They Call Me Fat Man mesh 33-tracker has some
from this talented outfit. perfectly with the covers, duplication of songs, but
none of which are too obvious. completists will want them all.

THE DIAMONDS
THE COMPLETE SINGLES AS & BS 1955-1962
FOOT TAPPING RECORDS

Canadian vocal group The Diamonds built a career
covering R&B hits for the white market.
However, the composers of the originals had no Johnny Preston Del Shannon
problems with these covers, as I discovered when I saw THE VERY BEST OF THE DUBLIN SESSIONS
the late lead singer Dave Somerville duet with Maurice ONE DAY ROCKBEAT
Williams, who wrote and first recorded Little Darling.
More royalties for the writer, you see. This Texas singer is Del Shannon, who shot to
They covered everything from Frankie Lymons Why Do remembered forever due fame with Runaway, had a late
Fools Fall In Love, The Willows Church Bells May Ring to his chart-topper Running career burst with The
and The Rays Silhouettes, which were often recognised Bear, but he had a pretty good Traveling Wilburys, but he
more than the originals. And they didnt restrict body of work to follow up was never happy with the
themselves to one genre. As a result, many British record that hit he cut when he was sound on his Irish recordings
buyers had no idea there were originals of many of The 20 years old. in the mid-70s. So they
Diamonds hits, and snapped up their Mercury label 78s. Charming Billy, Cradle Of remained unreleased until
This big value 64-track 2CD set scoops up all their Love, and Do What You Did now, but they sound just fine.
A- and B-Sides of their all fitted nicely with his light Eleven tracks include One
American releases, plus titles tenor voice, but none climbed Track Mind, Black Is Black
only put out in the UK and the charts in the same way as and Love Letters among the
Australia. But is it any good? his debut. No less than 40 revivals, while Best Days Of
Well, as covers artists they tracks are spread across two My Life, Raylene, and Love
were far better than many in CDs, but I could live without Dont Come Days are
the same field, The Crew- (I Want A) Rock &Roll Guitar, otherwise unfamiliar.
Cuts, for example, and their his Christmas single. Sadly, Dels premature death
harmonies were listenable. Other than that, a good robbed rocknroll of one of its
value package. best voices.

92 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30

VR30.albums.indd 92 26/05/2017 11:51

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 Album
REVIEWS
I
was at Viva Las Vegas 13
back in 2010, the time the
now sadly-departed Chuck
Berry was booked to play at
the vintage car show there.
The prospect of seeing the
man who gave rock its
vocabulary, that sexualised the
automobile, and taught a
generation to worship the
electric guitar, was exciting.
If you were there, youll
know, the dear old chaps
performance that day was not
a triumph. Standing there in
his little white sailors cap, the
set seemed to grind to a halt as
he looked out at the crowd and
asked: does anybody know
any Chuck Berry songs? He
might have been joking. Some
people reckoned he was
drunk. In the end, I made my
peace and caught a legend live,
in the Nevada sunshine.
Why am I dragging you
down Memory Lane? Well,
when the news dropped that
Chuck had cut a new album
called Chuck, his first since
1979s Rock It, I was
immediately transported back
94 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30
VR30.chuck.indd 94
Chuck Berry
CHUCK
DECCA RECORDS
to that day in 2010. How good
could a new record be, based
on what Id seen?
I should mention that Id
first seen Chuck perform live
at a show in the Royal Concert
Hall in Glasgow in the
early-90s. What I remember of
that show was a tougher
sounding Chuck. He stalked
the stage like a leopard, his
guitar actually growled. It was
less a rocknroll revival show
than a display of the deep
primal blues.
The guitar is once again
growling, and Chuck sounds
remarkably youthful as he
launches into the opening
track Wonderful Woman. The
sheer sonic blast of the track
obliterates any notion that
Berry is dialling anything in.
Backed up by his son and
grandson, not to mention
Grammy-grabbing blues/soul
man Gary Clark Jr, there is no
doubting who is in charge.
Youve likely heard the
single Big Boys by now. An
unashamed reboot of Johnny
B. Goode and Roll Over
Beethoven, the song finds
Berry retracing his steps to
manhood, offering his life
lessons as a beacon to the kids.
In classic Berry style, theres
a seam of innuendo to be
mined from Big Boys, and a
great call and response yes
yes chorus.
Not all the tunes are
self-penned. You Go To My
Head which finds Berry in a
softer, almost maudlin mood,
was born back in 1938 at the
hands of J. Fred Coots and
Haven Gillespie while 3/4
Time (Enchiladas), composed
by Tony Joe White, has a
country feel. In both
examples, you might be
surprised just how much soul
is in that old rocknroll larynx.
Other highlights include the
poignant Darlin, a song about
facing the fact that your lifes
journey is almost done,
inevitably given extra gravitas
following Berrys death. The
fact he performs the track
with his daughter might set
your bottom lip a-trembling.
And just when you find
yourself with something in
your eye Lady B. Goode brings
the sun back out with some
trademark Berry rock.
We could tell you more...
But seriously, is there anyone
reading this magazine that
isnt going to buy this record?
This cat changed our lives. He
terrified Keef Richards and
taught George Harrison how
to play via his killer 45s.
Chuck could have been a
disaster of course; but the
truth is, its a good record. It
doesnt need a sympathy
review just because its creator
is no longer with us. Ok,
theres nothing to challenge
God-like 45s such as
Maybellene, No Particular
Place To Go, or Johnny B.
Goode but cmon, who would
stand a chance of matching
material of that calibre these
days? No, Chuck is proof that
rocks poet laureate was
having a blast right up to the
end, in unexpectedly great
form. It just goes to show... you
really never can tell.
Ed Mitchell
26/05/2017 12:11
 Getty

ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 95

VR30.chuck.indd 95 26/05/2017 12:11

 Weekend winner! Wanda Jacksons
show-stopping performance in
the main ballroom

Headline act! Brenda Lee was

arguably the biggest name of
the whole weekend

ban
Photography Nick Cob

DS , H O T- R O C K IN
- F IL L E D DA YS O F H OTRO
FIVE FUN G U YS IN T H E B LA Z IN G
MUSIC, HOT GALS N E NEVADA DESERT...
SUNSHINE OF TH OWARD
BY JOHN H
96 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30

VR30.live_viva.indd 96 26/05/2017 14:48

 Dita Von Teese at the
Burlesque Showcase

Tennessee roots: rammed with tattooed

Sonny George of
the Planet Rockers crowds in cuffed jeans and
long keychains, the ladies
notably outdressing the

T
he 20th anniversary of
Viva Las Vegas, a five day
event celebrating every
possible root and shoot of 50s
rocking music from hillbilly
to hard rock, via country and
doo-wop, returned bigger and
badder than ever before.
The festival, which saw crowds in
excess of 20,000, may take place in the
Nevada desert, but its British brains
who put it together, from promoter Tom
Ingram and his vast team of helpers,
to the house band featuring top British
players like pianist and musical director
Carl Sonny Leyland and ace guitarist
Ashley Kingman... Even the event security
are Brits.
fellas for the most part.
WEDNESDAY WARM-UP
While there is plenty to see and do
it is the music that holds the whole
festival together, and the main act on
the Wednesday pre-show were the
Link Wray-inspired, Blind Rage And
Violence. The woollen mask disguise
Charlie Gracie steps
was fooling nobody, there was no in for Jimmy Cavalo
mistaking the guitar style of maestro
Deke Dickerson.
Viva Las Vegas is a great event
and already heading towards a
full house for 2018!

QUEEN OF THE TEASE

The fest celebrities all things retro: from
tattoo parlours to barbers, breath-taking
classic car shows to a series of burlesque
shows which were so popular the
queues to get into the on-site theatre
stretched literally for a mile.
Judging by the length of the queues,
there was no doubting who is the Queen
of Burlesque, and thats Dita Von Teese
all her headlining shows were completely
full as she splashed around in a six foot
high Martini glass.
Main focus of this international get
together is the Orleans Hotel, with its
1,200 seater theatre, and its outdoor
arena which can contain all who attend
with ease.
Situated just off the main Las Vegas
strip, it and its two sister hotels are
The first band on Thursday night to
really make an impression was not in the
main Mardi Gras ballroom, but in the
secondary, but still large Bienville Room.
I had been tipped off that LA-based outfit,
The Rip Em Ups, should not be missed,
and I owe that tipster a drink.
Their rip-roaring set of originals and
instrumentals was so hot I thought
they might set off the fire alarms. The
dapper sax player Marco Palos provided
eye-candy for the ladies and numbers
included Baby Doll, I Wanna Love You
and Wild Savage Woman.
An oddity was lead vocalist Javier De
La Rosas take on the 100mph rocker
Ooh My Head, all sung in Spanish. They
went down famously with a crowd that
appeared familiar with their material,
and should be near the top of the list
of potential crowd-pullers at European
festivals next year.
GREETINGS FROM PLANET ROCK
The on-off-on Nashville-based Planet
Rockers got together again behind
bearded Sonny George, eyes hidden
behind a western hat, and a strong
southern drawl to underline his
Tennessee roots. Numbers like Big
Wheel, Ones All The Law Will Allow
and Truck Drivers Rock straddled
the ground between southern rock
and 50s rocknroll, but they nailed it
and convinced the crowd with what is
probably the best 50s instrumental to

ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 97

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 VIVA LAS VEGAS 20
appear outside its era, the wonderful,
oft-recorded Rampage, an original by
Planet Rockers guitarist Eddie Angel.
Brit favourite Graham Fenton, who
played with his band Matchbox at the
festival before, performed solo with
alongside the house band.
In his trademark cowboy hat, and a
smart grey jacket, Fenton was at ease
with the crowd.
His fine high register vocals are
well-suited to emulations
of his idol Gene Vincent on
numbers such as Right Now,
and Five Days Five Days. His
hit take on Freddy Cannons
Buzz Buzz A Diddle It was well-
received, as was his take on Carl
Manns arrangement of Pretend.
Kim Lenz, the rockabilly filly
with striking russet hair and
elaborate cowboy boots, seemed to
be enjoying herself as she worked
through a set that included Choctaw
Boogie, DJ Play That Record All Night
Long, and her latest Slowly Speeding.
Lance Lipinsky, and his band The
Lovers, is one of a long line of piano
pounders influenced by Jerry Lee Lewis.
But with his mile-high pompadour,
youthful energy and expertise on
98 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 1
Untitled-7 98
guitar (as well as piano), he proved
a real crowd-pleaser with a Chuck
Berry tribute.
Swedens Jack Baymoore and the
Bandits closed out the first evening in
the main ballroom, and proved once
again that no other Swedish singer has
a more authentic vocal style in country
and rockabilly.
Brenda Lee performed
her regular Greatest
Hits offering, pure
show business...
SUN STARS SHINE BRIGHT
Baymoore was also appearing on the
second day (Friday), in a portmanteau
of acts running for an hour under the
title The Stars of Rockabilly. It featured
Larry Collins from the Collins Kids, Sun
recording artists Alton and Jimmy, and
fellow Sun star Sonny Burgess. Big Sandy
James Intveld looking
dapper in a black and
white suit
Britains Si Cranstoun
going down a storm
was MC for the segment to bring on Jack
Baymoore making his first appearance at
the event since 1999.
Alton (Lott) and Jimmy (Harrell)
perform well individually, but their sound
really takes off when they sing
in harmony, and No More Crying The
Blues and Have Faith In My Love
sounded utterly sublime. White-haired
and white-bearded they may be, but time
has not mellowed their
energy or blunted their
singing abilities.
Old reliables Sonny Burgess
and his bandmate for more
than 50 years, Bobby Crafford,
personify rockabilly. Wearing
a black and red trilby, Sonny
looked and sounded cool,
offering up Red-Headed Woman,
We Wanna Boogie and My
Buckets Got A Hole In It.
Larry Collins, elbow-high to
his big sister Lorrie when they started
in the 1950s, is an ace guitarist, and
came onstage with a twin-necked
guitar matched both by sidesman Deke
Dickerson, and house band guitarist
Ashley Kingman. A sight to both see and
hear, the Collins Kids biggie Hoy Hoy
featured Ruby Ann on vocals. Rockabilly
Forever closed out the session which had
run way over time, and was even better
than anticipated.
Britains Si Cranstoun followed on the
main stage, and any lesser artist might
have found it difficult to equal the impact
of the preceding artists, but the lively,
talented and downright enthusiastic Si
was the man for the job.
Dressed in a white shirt, with black
braces, he powered through Nappy
Brown favourites like Open Up That Door
and Love Locks, his own originals like
Coupe de Ville, Old School and Lonesome
Heart Bandit, benefitting from
26/05/2017 16:49

Larry Collins onstage with
his twin-necked guitar
well-drilled backing from his own band,
which included twin sax. Dynamo,
probably his signature tune, went down a
storm, but he remains on the edge of his
long-deserved mainstream success.
Closing the main stage were Frances
The Spuny Boys, with their wild
haircuts, lively stage antics, and youthful
exuberance, they are mainstays on the
festival circuit and great fun.
Worthy of mention on Friday, too,
were Brit band The Terrosaurs, whose
fearsome masks and full-on sound
make them difficult to ignore but easy
to recognise.
ROCKIN THIS TOWN
Saturday was the big day with an
amazing array of weird and wonderful
classic cars and hot rods on
display alongside acres of
vendors, burlesque stars and
more than 30 bands .
Performing live, the age-defying
James Intveld looked dapper in
a black and white suit, with steel
guitar complementing his own
guitar work. He supplied the vocals
to Johnny Depp miming in the cult
movie Cry Baby, and spent some years
with The Blasters before going solo. A
lightly rocking set with a nod to country,
he was in fine voice on such numbers as
Stop The World And Let Me Off, Rocky
Road Blues and Polk Salad Annie.
He included my own favourite, his take
on Its a Pretty World Today, and livened
things up with Brown Eyed Handsome
Man, his tribute to the late Chuck Berry.
No rockabilly festival would be
complete without The Stray Cats, or a
former member of that outfit, and this
time it was bassist Lee Rockers turn.
A good vocalist, he would not have been
allowed off the stage without his versions
VR30.live_viva.indd 99
Kim Lenz and her
striking russet hair
of the Cats Rumble In Brighton or
Rock This Town, and duly obliged to a
rapturous response.
BRING OUT THE BIG GUNS
The biggest name of the whole weekend
was arguably Brenda Lee, who has sold
millions more records than anyone else
on the bill. Her appearance, and her
early rockabilly records, still played,
like Bigelow 6-200, Rock The Bop and
Dynamite, were hotly anticipated.
Using her own cabaret-style band,
Wanda Jacksons
performance in the
main ballroom was an
object lesson in focus
rather than the seasoned rockabilly
House Band, Lee performed her regular
Greatest Hits offering, pure show
business, with, ugh, medleys of some of
her ballads.
Sporting a massive blonde bouffant
the tiny diva, now 72, opened with Bring
Me Sunshine, sounded OK on Sweet
Nothings, and Dum Dum, but her voice
was not equal to Am I Losing You, Break
To Me Gently or As Usual.
She pleased the crowd with the topside
of her first single cut when she was 11,
Hank Williams Jambalaya. With nearly
100 hits to her own name, her inclusion
of Lloyd Prices Personality was a
mystery, and God Bless America might be
patriotic, but it jarred with the mood.
Im Sorry may have been an apt follow-
up to that, but she won some fans back
with Lets Jump The Broomstick and
Rocking Around The Christmas Tree
even if the temperature had reached
a blazing 85 degrees in the sunshine.
The Reverend Horton Heat have a cult
following in the psychobilly fraternity,
and was greeted warmly.
Fronted by Jim Heath, this
Texas trio have put out no
less than 11 albums in a 20-
year career, and certainly
have a great guitar sound.
But there was little evidence
as to why their music has
proved quite so popular as he
ran through tracks like Bad
Reputation, Rocking Dog, and
Like A Rocket.
In direct contrast to Brenda
Lee maybe three hours earlier, Wanda
Jacksons performance in the main
ballroom was an object lesson in focus,
rehearsal and audience empathy.
Wanda has been in poor health of late,
and had to be carried on to the stage to a
chair. But this had not affected her fine
voice. In a pretty pink top, she opened
with her Capitol label cut of Riot In
Cell Block Number Nine and her harsh
trademark growl was more than evident
on Rock Your Baby.
Apparently, British pop sensation Adele
was inspired to write her hit Rolling In
ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 99
26/05/2017 14:49
 VIVA LAS VEGAS 20
The Deep on hearing Wandas Funnel Of
Love, and the links were clear. Further
highlights included Fujiyama Mama,
Right Or Wrong, Mean Mean Man, a
cover of Hank Williams I Saw The Light,
before the inescapable Lets Have A Party.
Wandas charming granddaughter
helped her off the stage before she
encored with Rip It Up. Crowd response
was more like a Coronation: Hail the
Queen of Rockabilly!
Vicky looks great too, with her
long eye-lashes and huge camellia
in her bouffant black hair
Id caught Freddy Cannon two weeks
prior to his Vegas show, when response to
his lively act had been polite. The reverse
was true at this show. The response was
riotous, and the master showman built on
it with his 60s TV theme Action, which
had more than 1,000 of the audience
joining in with a chorus. Freddy paid a
heartfelt tribute to the late Chuck Berry,
who had inspired him when he saw him
play live while still in school, including
Little Queenie and Roll Over Beethoven.
His own hits, from Tallahassee Lassie
onward, had the joint jumping, and
100 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30
VR30.live_viva.indd 100
Sun legend Sonny Burgess
at Stars of Rockabilly
Marco came into his own
on Way Down Yonder In
New Orleans.
The Jive Aces, without doubt the
UKs permier rocknroll dance act,
had the midnight show in the main
room, and with their bright yellow
suits, highly polished act, and easy
audience rapport, showed why they
now tour America regularly, attracting
larger and larger audiences.
This was one of two shows for The
Aces, the second being a theatre showcase
with the Satin Dollz And The Hollywood
Hotshots, a fully staged show with
dancers and backing vocalists that could
well fill theatres if the whole shebang
toured the UK.
Deke Dickersons Guitar Geek Festival,
saw performances from Larry Collins,
Jim Heath, Eugene Chrysler Eddie Angel,
Pat Capocci (from Australia), Ashley
Kingman, and 88-year-old mandolin
player Scotty Broyles, but none outshone
the affable and hard-working host.
The on-off-on Nashville-based
Planet Rockers got together
again for a crowd-pleasing set
VIVACIOUS & VICTORIOUS
My Sunday started in the Bienville Room
with a songstress who has inherited
the sound and style of the best of the
rocknroll divas from the 50s.
Vicky Tafoya can move from blues
to soul to doo-wop to rocknroll and
sound utterly convincing in every genre.
She opened with Not Too Young To Sing
The Blues before my own personal
favourite, a note-perfect rendition of The
Students deeply moving So Young, which
actually shades the original recording.
Vicky looks great too, with her long eye-
lashes and huge camellia in her bouffant
black hair.
Her taste in covers is immaculate
too. Plus, she had a band comprising
many family members, not least young
Mario Tafoya, a Tom Cruise lookalike,
on drums, and her husband Vince on
guitar. Numbers included Never Let Go,
Please Dont Leave Me, and a great dance
version of Bill Haleys Rock-A-Beatin
Boogie. The hall filled to bursting point as
she electrified with I Put A Spell On You.
It was a great start to an evening
which was to continue with a near-two
hour revue of acts entitled The Stars of
RocknRoll.
SUNDAY STARS OF ROCKNROLL
It was due to feature The Cleftones,
Gene Summers, Otis Williams and Gene
30/05/2017 08:36
 Viva Las Vegas is a great
event and already heading
towards a full house for 2018

Vicky Tafoya moves effortlessly

between blues, soul, doo-wop
and rocknroll

Summers, a Texan who cut a series of and Shake, Rattle

The Cleftones, front

great records in the 1950s, was first up, And Roll was a fine
and looking good sporting a full head of finisher.

by Herb Cox, have aed

grey hair and wearing a black shirt and The Cleftones,
red tie. Opening with Got A Lot Of This, still fronted by the

doo-wop back catalo

he raced through four straight classics:
Straight Skirts, Alabama Shake, Fancy
Dan and School Of RocknRoll.
Next up, it was timeless doo-wop from
one of the more commercially successful
groups of the era, but you wouldnt know
it from what lead singer of The Charms,
Otis Williams had to say.
He penned the big-selling Hearts of
Stone, a hit for everybody including The
Fontane Sisters, Pat Boone, and John
Fogerty but he never received any
songwriter royalties.
Still, he and his white-suited
compadres did a good job with it, and
their other original hit, Two Hearts, Two
Kisses Make One Love. Again, Otis wrote
it, he claimed but despite covers from
everyone from Frank Sinatra to Doris
Day, no money honey!
Last minute replacement Charlie
Gracie is more familiar to
UK audiences, and when he
found a number of Brits in
his audience, he surprised
with a cod-Cockney version
of Maybe Its Because
Im A Londoner, which
always goes down well in
Britain, but must have been
surprising to an American
audience which thought he
was a Philadelphian.
The hits were all present
and correct from Butterfly,
Fabulous and Just Looking
onwards. His guitar work
shone on Guitar Boogie El mysterious! Los
Straitjackets performing
with Freddie Cannon
charismatic Herb Cox,
have a doo-wop back
catalogue second to
none, not to mention
an obviously skilled
choreographer and a
stylist who chose their
flashy gold jackets.
Hits like Heart And Soul, For
Sentimental Reasons and This Little Girl
Of Mine were as on the record.
An unlikely trio of Brits kept the Union
Flag flying vocally, and looked good in
pale blue suits. Yes, The Extraordinaires
proved they could hold their own in
world class company with Gonna Rock
With You, Whey Do Fools Fall In Love
and Tell Me Why. Its no surprise to learn
they started as a dance act, as their
wild performances, complete with
splits, underlined.
gue
second to none
HILLBILLY HOEDOWN TO CLOSE DOWN
The final act of the night in The
showroom theatre was Dave and Dekes
Hillbillyfest, a celebration of rural
humour, music and food held together
by Deke Dickerson.
There was a reappearance of Doug
Kershaw, the Ragin Cajun with 50s hits
like Louisiana Man and Diggy Diggy Lo,
dressed in a fringed cowboy shirt and
with an obvious sense of humour that
meshed exactly with Dickerson in his
bib and brace outfit and
straw hat.
Nearly two hours of
cornpone hilarity which
included a chewing
tobacco spitting contest,
and an actual outhouse
on stage.
Sorry, then, to the many
acts I had to skip in order
not to miss this one.
Certainly Viva Las
Vegas is a great event, the
biggest yet, and already
heading towards a full
house for 2018, so book
for next year now.
ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 101

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 14 t
th

D O- OP O W
W E EK E N D
LO
ONG
NG ISLA
I SL
ISSLA
L A ND, N.Y.
N.Y
N
N.
.Y.
Y.

VINTAGE ROCK JOINS JOHN HOWARD BOPPING

AND DOO-WOPPING IN THE US
PHOTOS BY NICK COBBAN

L-R Beverley Warren of the Raindrops,

Nanette Licari of Reparata and the
Delrons, Louise Murray of the Jaynetts,
Margaret Williams of the Cookies and
Lilian Walker of the Exciters
Philly group, The Orlons, replicate
classics The Wah Watusi, Dont d
Hang Up and South Street perfectly

102 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30

VR30.live_doowop.indd 102 26/05/2017 14:39


Larry Chance, lead singer of
The Earls, entertained with
humour and song
A
fter 14 successful years, the
annual Doo-Wop Weekender in
Long Island will sadly be scaling
down. Dwindling audiences and
the disappearance of some of
the big names of doo-wop has led to the
organisers of this celebration of harmony
groups of the 50s and 60s to reassess the
two day event.
Sponsored by the Hauppauge
Educational Foundation, and organised by
LAR Enterprises, the showcase took place
in the vast Hauppauge High School on
Long Island, New York, 40 miles east of
Manhattan. By fluke, I attended the first
event. By choice, Ive attended every year
I have been able ever since. Nowhere else
on earth could you hear The Flamingos,
The Moonglows, The Diamonds and
Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs all on
the same bill. In fact, in a format dating
back to Dick Clarks 50s Caravan of
Stars tours, no less than 37 separate acts
performed over the weekend.
KING KENNY DELIGHTS ON DAY ONE
The first days line-up was as impressive
as ever, with The Coasters, The
Teenagers, The Dubs and The Willows,
among others. But this was Kenny Vances
day. A founder member of Jay and the
Americans, music producer on films
like Animal House and American Hot
Wax, and closing act on every doo-wop
weekender up until three years ago,
when he became seriously ill. Now on the
mend, Vance was given a heroes welcome
back to health, and his segment opened to
tumultuous applause.
VR30.live_doowop.indd 103
THE 14TH ANNUAL DOO-WOP WEEKEND
ls,
La La Brooks, of The Crysta
loo ks
sounde d as goo d as she
on Then He Kissed Me andBaby
Theres No Other Like My
Looking For An
Echo is paean to the
doo-wop genre, name
checking various
groups, so the fact
he is both a fan and a
performer adds to his NO LESS TH AN 37
lustre for this audience. SEPA R ATE ACTS
Also in his set was a duet
with his lad, actually called PER FOR MED OVER
Lad, on the Everly Brothers THE WEEK END...
Let It Be Me, My Vow To
You, and Wonderful Girl. With
long-haired Johnny Gale on lead guitar, COULD THIS BE MAGIC!
and other members of The Planotones More impressive were the four members
doo-wopping away, it was the old days of The Heartbeats whose A Thousand
once more. Miles Away launched a career for
It was left to The Jarmels in three- Heartbeats member James Shep
piece silver suits to open the show with Sheppard when he cut Daddys Home as
their 1961 hit Little Bit Of Soap, bagging the answer record, and gave Cliff Richard
the standard The Way You Look Tonight a future hit. A similar fate awaited The
before anyone else could. Harmonies Fireflies, whose US biggie, You Were
were, as anticipated, perfect. Mine, was covered in the UK by Tommy
Next up was Joe Villa, orginal lead Steele. Here magnificent harmonies
singer of The 3 Friends, but more to were replicated by the razor-sharp group
the point, a member of The Royal Teens. in fetching green jackets.
Thus we had The Friends US hit Blanche There can be no original members in
and the sublime, if slightly daft, novelty The Coasters, so precisely who was in the
Short Shorts. line-up of the group bearing that name
Santo and Johnny may not play on the night is a moot point. Perhaps a
together any more, but Johnny Farina better point is that they were sharp in
keeps the flame alive by constant touring yellow jackets and performed That Is
and recording, and his renditions of RocknRoll, Poison Ivy, Young Blood,
Pipeline, Rebel Rouser, and the million- Charlie Brown and Yakety Yak exactly as
selling Sleepwalk hit the spot. White- on record, so good luck to them.
suited Jimmy Clanton is another regular The Dubs, however, retain their
on every doo-wop show for no apparent original lead singer Cleveland Still, who,
reason. Go Jimmy Go, Just A Dream and amazingly, retains his strong voice some
Venus In Blue Jeans got a good welcome. 60 years after he turned the superb
ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 103
26/05/2017 14:40
 THE 14TH ANNUAL DOO-WOP WEEKEND
Dont Ask Me to Be Lonely, In the Chapel
Of Dreams, and most importantly, Could
This Be Magic into hits. This was the
highlight of the show so far, and I admit
to a level of dampness around my eyes as
I heard this anthem of doo-wop live for
what must be the very last time.
TILLOTSON WAS POETRY IN MOTION
Chapel Bells and Oh Rosemarie, from
Tony Passa, were passable, but it was
Johnny Tillotson who got the crowd
going again with Poetry In Motion,
Send Me the Pillow You Dream On and
Talk Back Trembling Lips, all of which
he originated. He had also read the
programme which said this was a doo-
wop event and did a more than acceptable
version of The Penguins Earth Angel. He
looks good for his age, too.
Lenny Dell And The Demensions had
a doo-wop hit with their 1960 revival
of Judy Garlands Over The Rainbow,
replacing wistfulness with dreariness,
both on record and here on stage.
Another group with their leader still
at the helm is Willie Winfield And The
Harptones and their harmonies were
intact on their biggie Sunday Kind Of
Love, but their Aint No Mountain High
Enough was slightly out of the time-
frame they were evoking? The crowd
seemed not to mind.
104 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 1
VR30.live_doowop.indd 104
The Orioles have a back catalogue to
die for, but opened with a hard-rocking,
almost dance, R&B version of Baby Please
Dont Go, a pleasant contrast from the
slow to mid-tempo offerings from not
only most acts on the bill, but also the
Orioles hits such as Crying In The Chapel
and Its Too Soon To Know.
Herman Santiago is the last man
standing in what was once Frankie
Lymon And The Teenagers, and co-wrote
the huge hit Why Do Fools Fall In Love
with Frankie. Various other talents now
embellish Hermans group, not least
bass singer Bobby Jay. Bobby doubled
as host and MC for both shows. His
potted histories of the groups and his
reminiscences of mid-century Harlem
added to the atmosphere of the shows.
The Teenagers offered Goody Goody,
I Promise To Be True and The ABCs Of
Love in addition to their signature tune.
SWINGING THROUGH SUNDAY
Day two, the Sunday, promised a wider
range of musical genres than Saturday,
with the addition of some girl groups
from the 1960s including The Cookies,
the Jaynetts, and Reparata and The Del-
Rons, all unseen by me. The biggest name
on the bill was Freddy Cannon, but more
of him later.
Jay Siegel of The Tokens may be in
his late-70s, but he can still reach
those falsetto high notes
Kenny Vance was
given a heroes
welcome
All purpose a capella backing group
The Classic Sounds got a slot to open,
and their three numbers were well chosen
since they were taken from the songbooks
of The Flamingos, the Jive Five and
the Angels.
The Quotations were the first of the
originals, and their Imagination, and its
flip Ala Men Sy were textbook examples
of uptempo danceable doo-wop while
their take on The Platters arrangement
of Smoke Gets In Your Eyes proved they
were equally adept at ballads.
Another outfit that was robbed of a UK
hit were The Safaris, whose US hit Image
Of A Girl was covered by Mark Wynter
to no great effect, so to hear lead singer
Jimmy Stephens do proper justice to the
song was a delight. He also offered an
effective Teenager In Love.
First up of the Philly groups was
The Orlons, whose takes on The Wah
Watusi, Dont Hang Up and South Street
replicated the recorded versions. The
Majors, boasting two original members,
performed their million-selling A
Wonderful Dream and Just A Little Bit
Now, which got toes tapping.
A real treat was to come. Five singers
from girl groups of the early-60s,
presenting one big hit apiece. So we
had Margaret Williams of The Cookies
singing Chains, Louise Murray, an
imposing figure from The Jaynetts
offering the mystical Sally Go Round The
Roses, Nanette Licari of Reparata and
The Del-Rons contributing Whenever
A Teenager Cries, Lilian Walker of The
Exciters on Tell Him, and Beverley
Warren of The Raindrops with Hes The
Kind Of Boy You Cant Forget. All sang
back-up to one another, and deservedly
went down a storm.
26/05/2017 14:40
 The Teenagers offered Why Do Fools
Fall In Love, Goody Goody, I Promise
To Be True and The ABCs Of Love
THE KIDS ALRIGHT
Kid Kyle, now in his 20s, has been singing
doo-wop onstage from the age of nine,
and is a celebrity with this crowd. He
names Frankie Lymon as his biggest
musical influence, so small wonder he
opened with Frankies arrangement of
Little Bitty Pretty One. The second Earth
Angel of the weekend followed, then
a superb take of The Students Im So
Young before Neil Sedakas The Diary.
Totally confident and self assured, well
versed in stagecraft, the Kid is a star.
If he decided to stop singing, then
Larry Chance, lead singer of The Earls,
could make a fine living in
comedy. One particular
shtick involves the rather
CONFI DENT AND
large Larry moving a
microphone stand to one side
explaining: You couldnt see SELF ASSUR ED,
WELL VER SED IN
me from behind this. One wit
riposted: I could see you from
behind a Buick. Much hilarity. STAGECR AFT, K I D
K YLE IS A STA R
Larry also writes and A Capella
With My Friends is a newish
composition about the genre and
Remember Then is what the group is
remembered for. I wonder why we never
see them in Europe.
Showman Freddy Cannon, still in
great shape and great voice, is more
accustomed to crowd reaction than he got
from this fully seated audience, but that
didnt stop him pulling out all the stops.
Numbers included Palisades Park,
Way Down Yonder In New Orleans,
Tallahassee Lassie, Shake Rattle And Roll
with Joe Turners original lyrics, a Chuck
Berry tribute, and his TV theme tune
from the 1960s Action.
The Capris, famed for the ballad
Theres A Moon Out Tonight, surprised
when they opened with Great Balls
Of Fire, continuing with Hey There
VR30.live_doowop.indd 105
Lonely Girl, but
it was their 1982
recording of Morse Code Of Love
that really caught the imagination.
Producer Phil Spectors first girl group
signing were The Crystals, lead singer
La La Brooks joined when she was 13,
she told the audience. By the time she
was 15 she cut Da Doo Ron Ron, and now
nearing 70, she could pass for late 40s.
Her voice is as good as her looks, and
she continued with Then He Kissed Me
and Theres No Other Like My Baby.
Chuck Girard, original lead singer of
both The Castells and The Hondells had
TOTALLY
little chance of a UK hit. The Castells
biggie was Sacred, which the BBC would
have banned on religious grounds, and
The Hondells hit was Little Honda,
which the BBC would have banned on
commercial grounds. Good voice, good
audience rapport.
Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman wrote
Teenager In Love for The Mystics,
but instead gave it to Dion, so in
consolation they wrote Hushabye for the
disappointed teenagers which gave them
a hit. In a show that was as smooth as
their silk suits, they offered Higher And
Higher, and Dont Take The Stars From
The Sky.
John Kuse and The Excellents have
The Fireflies magnificent
harmonies were replicated
by fetching green jackets
a regional hit every
summer with Coney Island Baby which
they reprised here, with a take on The
Drifters Fools Fall In Love.
Jimmy Gallagher is one of the few stars
of doo-wop to visit the UK, and scored
well at a Hemsby rocknroll weekender,
particularly with his rendition of Gloria,
a difficult song to sing, which he reprised
during his slot.
His group The Passions looked cool in
white jackets, and included their debut
hit Made For Lovers, and the later Just
To Be With You, that had
been demod for them by Paul
Simon and Carole King.
He may be in his late-70s,
but Jay Siegel, lead singer of
The Tokens, can still reach
those falsetto high notes on their
six million selling Wimoweh/
The Lion Sleeps Tonight that
established them in 1961. Other
hits included Tonight I Fell In
Love, and their third gold record,
Portrait of My Love.
For a finale, everyone who had been
on the show assembled onstage to say
goodnight, and amazed with both the
riot of primary colours on show, but also
the size of the cast, numbering nearly 50
musicians and singers.
Talent of this quality does not come
cheap, so its easy to sympathise with
promoter Rob Albanese to scale back on
the doo-wops. He will be continuing with
oldies show at the same venue next year,
with fewer acts with longer slots, and
has already signed Brian Hyland, Charlie
Gracie, Chris Montez and others all of
whom appear in the UK regularly.
So one wonders if it isworth travelling
3,000 miles next year?
ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 105
26/05/2017 14:41
 LIVE
REVIEWS

The dapper, diminutive and

dark-suited guitar player Charlie
Gracie recently played the
modestly-sized Spice of Life
function suite just off the Charing
Cross Road in London

VR30.live_charlie.indd 106 26/05/2017 14:29

 Charlie Gracie delighted
the audience with a
crowd-pleasing set that
included Butterfly,
Fabulous and Whatd I Say
CHARLIE GRACIE
JOHN HOWARD CHECKS OUT THE BUTTERFLY HITMAKER
DURING HIS VISIT TO LONDONS SPICE OF LIFE CLUB
H
ilarity and nostalgia were the
two hallmarks of a highly
satisfying show by rocknroll
original Charlie Gracie on a
rare visit to London.
The dapper, diminutive
and dark-suited guitar player
was celebrating 60 years since his
London debut and although his days
of headlining the London Palladium
and Hippodrome may now be over, he
can still pull a larger crowd than could
fit in the modestly-sized Spice of Life
function suite just off the Charing Cross
Road it was sold out weeks in advance,
and there was a waiting list for tickets.
Philadelphia native Charlie, whose
million selling self-penned No. 1
Butterfly went on to finance the Cameo
and Parkway labels, does not disappoint.
Nearing 81 years old and with a full
head of greying hair, he remains spritely
and chatty.
Rock A Beatin Boogie, made famous
by another Pennsylvania native Bill
Haley, was notable for the steaming
VR30.live_charlie.indd 107
PHOTOS PAUL HARRIS
guitar solo, and reminded the packed
house that Charlies first claim to fame
was as a teenage guitar prodigy.
Go Man Go was a 1980s release on
which he was backed on the original
by The Jordanaires. In their absence,
the Tales From The Woods band did
an equally fine job, underlining their
excellence in the first set of the evening.
With John Spenceley on lead guitar
and vocals, they had opened their own
set with Maybellene, recognising the sad
passing of the legendary Chuck Berry.
Charlie then went into one of his
biggest hits in the UK, Wanderin Eyes,
and reminisced about his first visit to
Britain in 1957 at the height of the first
rocknroll craze.
His broad range of material has always
included a touch of gospel, represented
here by Put Your Hand In The Hand Of
The Man, also recorded by Elvis, then
straight into Amen.
He paid tribute to his late friend Eddie
Cochran, a fellow guitar wizard, and
then lightened the mood with a snatch
of Rule Britannia, before adopting the
best Dick Van Dyke cockney accent for
Maybe Its Because Im A Londoner, and
Ive Got A Lovely Bunch Of Coconuts.
Its not that often you hear a rocknroll
pioneer take on Billy Cotton.
After Charlies initial hits, he was
invited to Hollywood to appear in
the film Jamboree (aka Disc Jockey
Jamboree in the UK), which featured
Cool Baby, and he Charlie performed
it with its flip, Youve Got A Heart Like
A Rock, before crediting country star
Floyd Tillman on I Love You So Much It
Hurts, which was a huge hit both sides
of the Atlantic for Charlie.
Of course, his biggest hits Butterfly
and Fabulous were included in the set,
as was a crowd-pleasing version of
Whatd I Say and the evening was
almost over.
Charlie was called back for two
encores, Cotton Fields, and then the
final Shake Rattle And Roll, which, as
expected, had the whole place shaking,
rattling and rolling.
ISSUE 30 VINTAGE ROCK 107
26/05/2017 14:31
 IN HIS OWN WORDS: VINCE EAGER

A Life in
RocknRoll
I
t was in my car while travelling
to shows that both Eddie and
Gene tended to open up more
about life in general and discuss
their hopes and aspirations.
Gene didnt travel with me as much as
Eddie and preferred the tour bus as it had
more room to accommodate his injured
leg [In 1955, Vincent was in a motorcycle
accident that shattered his left shinbone
and it never healed properly], whereas
Eddie appeared to enjoy his own time
when he was not having to babysit Gene.
Eddie would often play my Levin guitar
while sitting in the back seat, and it was
here that he first played me Cut Across
Shorty, stating that it was to be his next

Graham Fowell
A-Side release in the UK, with Three
Steps To Heaven, being the B-Side.
During the concerts we played together
on tour, Eddie never featured either of the family was certainly the top of his wish was Caird Hall ready for messrs Cochran,
two songs in his act, which, in later years list, with dating a few hotties coming Vincent and Eager to raise the roof?
left me in something of a quandary. a close second. Pre-show we were chilling out when a
Did Eddie ever play either song during Eddie was also keen to get back into very official-looking gentleman dressed in
the tour or on radio or television, or was the studio, and this is where his idea of a kilt visited our dressing room.
the back seat of my car the only occasion cutting a couple of tracks with me came He welcomed us to Dundee and
he played them in the UK? into play. the Caird Hall while reminding us that it
I think, as much as he wanted me to was a venue steeped in history and much-
GONNA ROCK IT UP... enjoy having a hit record, he also wanted revered by the community, a welcome we
The months we toured felt to be tinged
the UK were without
doubt the grimmest and
Was Caird Hall ready for messrs with a certain amount
of trepidation.
most miserable anyone
could have chosen with
Cochran, Vincent and Eager to Could he be
anticipating problems
the January, February
and March weather being
raise the roof? of a rocknroll nature?

foul enough to kill anyones desire to ever
return, let alone come here to live. But it
didnt put Eddie off. He loved it and was
considering buying a house here.
Not that he was contemplating forsaking
his beloved US, but the success he was
enjoying indicated that the UK and
Europe could prove to be a pot of gold as
far as his future touring was concerned.
As much as Eddie was enjoying touring
Britain, he was desperate to get home and
enjoy his mums cooking. Being with his
to show Parnes how it should be done as
the more the tour progressed,
the less impressed Eddie was with Larry.
It was with a certain amount of
excitement that Eddie, Gene and I arrived
at the Caird Hall in Dundee as it was only
three months earlier that Id appeared
there with Marty Wilde and we had
received a boisterous reception.
Built in the early 20th century, it seated
up to 2,300 and regularly hosted the
Royal Scottish National Orchestra, but
GONNA SHAKE IT UP...
It was a two-show night with both houses
sold out and, according to the stagehands
we were one of the most anticipated
shows ever to hit the city. Apparently,
the press had been on a rocknroll
countdown and consequently the whole
place now knew who Eddie and Gene
were. First house shows usually appealed
to the more family-oriented audiences
and were thought to be a warm-up
for the second house shows not in

108 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30

VR30.vince.indd 108 26/05/2017 14:43

 THIS ISSUE, VINCE EAGER RECALLS HOW, IN 1960, HE
WAS EMBROILED IN A TEDDY BOY-RELATED RIOT IN
DUNDEE. ITS ALL PART OF THIS LIFE ON THE ROAD WITH
THE LEGENDARY EDDIE COCHRAN AND GENE VINCENT
Dundee. From the second Tony Sheridan
opened the show with Just A Little Too
Much, it was rocknroll central. The we were to remain in our dressing rooms
audience were not just clapping and
singing along, they were already jiving in
the aisles. We just knew that it was going
to be one of those crazy nights!
I cant imagine that any of the audience
heard a word any of us were singing as
they sang along with us or, if they didnt
know the words screamed their heads off.
As Id appeared there only three months
earlier with the Marty Wilde show, I
think they would have preferred Eddie
to perform for longer rather than me
coming on. A few of the male members
of the audience certainly showed their
disdain for me by waving their fists in the
air, whilst others just shouted abuse, most
of which I didnt understand due to their
Celtic drawl!
When I came offstage in the second
show it was the interval and a member of
the Caird Hall security team was in our
dressing room talking with Eddie.
He was explaining that many of the
audience from the first show were still
outside and security were anticipating
VR30.vince.indd 109
problems getting us off the premises. He
told us arrangements were in hand and
until it was time for us to be escorted
from the building.
Following Genes final number, Eddie
and I would join him on stage for a show
finale number and on this occasion we
chose Shake Rattle And Roll. Wed no
sooner got to the chorus than a wave
of crazy, screaming, fist-waving guys
engulfed the stage. It all happened so
quickly, but thankfully the security team
were as quick to react as the audience and
after a few minutes of fending off fists
and pushing and shoving, they somehow
got Eddie, Gene and I to what felt like the
relative safety of our dressing room.
GONNA RIP IT UP!!!
Following a nervous 15-minute wait
in our dressing room, the immediate
noise decreased and appeared to be
confined to the exterior of the building.
This was when a very official-looking
gentleman accompanied by four security
personnel entered our dressing room and
confronted us. He appeared to have no
26/05/2017 14:44

sympathy whatsoever with our plight
with his manner and attitude indicating
that he felt we were as much responsible
for the situation as the audience. He then
continued to berate us while stressing
that the city of Dundee would never
allow such entertainment in its venues
again and we should be ashamed for the
damage that had been inflicted on this
beautiful building. With the security
personnel giving wry smiles and the
occasional wink, we gathered that it was
not an opinion shared by all.
Our unfriendly advisor then explained
that due to the hostility of the crowds
surrounding the building, it was unsafe
for us to leave via the ground floor exits
so we would be accompanied to the
basement of the building
where there was an
entrance to a post office
A few of the male members of the
telephone conduit. Not
understanding what
audience certainly showed their
the hell a post office
telephone conduit
distain for me by waving their fists
was, one of the accompanying security
personnel kindly explained to us that it
ran under the main square and was used
to carry telephone and electrical cables
throughout the city.
THE GREAT ESCAPE
We gingerly stepped over the threshold
into what looked like a ghost train
tunnel ride. With the security flashlights
eerily picking out what could only be
described as small rats or very big mice,
we approached a light. Our 10-minute
journey, that seemed more like 10 hours,
finally ended as we passed through an
archway into what appeared to be more
like a theatre.
The tunnel trek had been more of
a mentally punishing experience for
Eddie and I as we anticipated ghouls and
goblins at every turn, whereas due to his
iron-clad leg Gene had really struggled.
110 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30
Untitled-9 110
The murkiness and fear of the tunnel
became a thing of the past as upon our
exit we were greeted by a beautiful
chauffer-driven Daimler limo waiting to
whisk us off to Edinburgh. The smiles
and farewell waves of the security guys
indicated that they didnt think we were
all bad and perhaps the stage riot was not
of our making. Driving up the exit ramp
onto the street, however, was where we
got the biggest surprise of the evening.
Emerging from the ramp we found
ourselves directly behind the baying
crowds with the Caird Hall in front of
them. If only theyd known.
The Scottish national newspapers
and the local Dundee press had a field
day in venting their anger : RocknRoll
Riots Shame Dundee, Rocknroll to be
banned from the City of Dundee forever.
Rockers banned from Dundee return,
and so it went.
The Caird Hall riots were, for many
years attributed to the crowds becoming
uncontrollable due to the excitement of
the music. However, this proved to be
not entirely so according to a phone call
received by the BBC some 25 years later.
It was Saturday morning on 20 July 1985,
and Brian Matthew was recognising the
25th anniversary of Eddies death on
his popular BBC 2 Saturday morning
show, Sounds Of The Sixties. Sipping
coffee by my radio in my kitchen, I was
anxious to hear how the tour would be
presented. My ears pricked up when
Brian introduced a caller from Dundee
who went on to explain that the Caird
Hall Riots were due to a bunch of Dundee
Teddy Boys trying to get to me. Not
Gene Vincent, Vince
Eager and Eddie
Cochran get mobbed
because they liked my music, but because
they wanted to kick my arse. Im thinking,
what the hell is all this?
READY... TEDDY... GO!
Continuing his call, he went on to explain
in a strong Scottish brogue, that three
months earlier, in 1959, when I was
appearing at the Dundee Caird Hall with
Marty Wilde, a young lady approached
me for an autograph. Unfortunately, as
often happened, the young lady wanted
more than an autograph and asked me if
Id like to drive her home. I did, and that
appeared to be that, but unfortunately the
young lady hadnt made me aware that
she was engaged to an ill-tempered Teddy
Boy. Upon discovering our dalliance he
decided that I should
pay for my indiscretion.
Apparently, he
thought that getting
his own back while I
was onstage would be
the perfect retribution
whilst inflicting maximum public
humiliation on me at the same time. The
caller then went on to explain that as the
vexed Ted was seated at the rear of the
auditorium, his sprint down the gangway
towards the stage gathered support from
fellow Teddy Boys enroute. Many saw
it as a call to arms and before you could
say shake, rattle and roll the stage was
awash with drapes, drainpipes and
brothel creepers.
More than 40 years later I visited
Dundee and took the opportunity to visit
the local museum where I relived the
drama all over again courtesy of their
archives stored on microfilm. It was a
somewhat humbling experience viewing
the press coverage and I took yet even
more pride reading them the second time
around, even if it was actually all brought
about by my dalliance with a local lassie.
Now thats RocknRoll!
26/05/2017 16:52
 On Sale Now

AVAIL ABLE FROM

ORDER ON LINE AT:

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FROM THE MAKERS OF

VR30.house_cm.indd 101 19/05/2017 11:42

 10 GOD ONLY KNOWS
THE BEACH BOYS
The sentiment in it and the
Getty
way they put it together is
awesome. Brian Wilson spent
SOUNDTR ACK
a long time finishing it by
using those amazing sounds,
and they were not something
you could easily recreate. The
way he came up with those
inspirational sounds such as
harpsichord, French horns,
accordion, and cello and viola
sections was pure genius. I
know that the album it came
ALBERT LEE
from, Pet Sounds, took years
for Wilson to produce and
thats perhaps why it ranks
number one album in so
BY VINCE E AGER many musicians and record
G
producers all-time favourites.
rammy Award-winning guitarist
Albert Lee is celebrated the world
over for his hybrid picking technique.
It was in the early-60s when Albert
had his first taste of commercial
success playing with Chris Farlowe and The
Thunderbirds. He later joined The Crickets,
and worked with Heads Hands & Feet with
whom he enjoyed some commercial success.
He has gone on to work the likes of The
Everly Brothers, Joe Cocker, Emmylou Harris
and The Hot Band, Eric Clapton, Roseanne
4 PROBLEMS
Cash and Bill Wyman.
THE EVERLY BROTHERS
I love the sound of this record
as it features Don Everlys
Gibson Southern Jumbo
acoustic that his father bought
him. Don had seen Hank
Williams playing one on TV
and from then on wanted
one for himself. It proved to
be the sound that everyone
associates with The Everlys
as they used it on all their
big hits such as Bye Bye Love
and Wake Up Little Susie. I
always loved their singing and
the songs they did. Don used
open G tuning with Chet
Atkins playing electric on top
of it and this mystified people
as to how they achieved their
unique sound.
112 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30
VR30.soundtrack.indd 112
9 RAG MAMA RAG
THE BAND
I didnt think much of 1960s
music at the time and was
losing interest, but then I
heard this fantastic track from
The Band and it restored my
faith. The boys were unhappy
with the original standard
rock version that they had
recorded, so Levon Helm
decided to play mandolin,
Richard Manuel switched
to drums, bass player Rick
Danko switched to fiddle, and
producer John Simon played
the tuba. Adding Helms vocal
was the icing on the cake for
me and it became their biggest
seller reaching No.16 in the
UK charts.
3 PEGGY SUE
BUDDY HOLLY
This was such a unique sound.
I first heard it on the BBC, as
we did with most of the music
back then. I was supposed to
be going to see Buddy And The
Crickets with mates of mine,
but it wasnt until the day
after that I saw them and they
screamed: We went to see
Buddy last night and he
was awesome, where were
you? Id forgotten all about the
show and I was so upset.
I never got to meet Buddy
himself, but in 1973 I got to
meet up with the Crickets, then
I toured with them and we
made two albums together, so
that went someway for my not
meeting Buddy.
26/05/2017 15:08
 8 READY TEDDY
LITTLE RICHARD
If Im fed up and ever in
need of a lift and a cheering
up I play this track. The
excitement driven by the
drummer, Earl Palmer, was
amazing. He would speed up
and play some amazing fills
and every fill he did would lift
the song to another level. Its
something you dont get from
drummers these days. He did
all New Orleans sessions and
I eventually met him when
he was working in the Union
and he was the Chief Fire
Officer. He was awesome and
without doubt, other than
Little Richard, the stand out
musician on this track.
7 RACE WITH THE DEVIL
GENE VINCENT AND
THE BLUE CAPS
I was a huge Gene Vincent
fan in the late-50s, early-60s,
mainly because of Cliff Callup.
I believe Gene And The Blue
Caps won a talent contest
organised by a local radio
DJ, Sheriff Tex Davis, who
became Vincents manager
and fixed a deal with Capitol.
This was The Blue Caps
first session and they did it
in Nashville. Capitol hired
a couple of session men as
they werent sure about the
Blue Caps, but when Cliff
played his solo the producers
were gobsmacked and let the
Nashville musicians go.
6 BRING A LITTLE
WATER SYLVIE
LONNIE DONEGAN
I picked Bring A Little Water
Sylvie because its just Lonnie
and the bass and drums. You
can just about hear Denny
Wright playing acoustic
behind him but he didnt have
his guitar mixed high enough
and you can only just about
hear his brilliant solo. But
Lonnie was playing the most
exciting rhythm along with
the Micky Ashmans double
bass and Nock Nichols using
brushes on the drums, it
created such a driving rhythm
and is no doubt the reason
why Lonnie would open many
of his shows with it.
5 THESANFORD
FOOL
CLARK
It took me ages to get a copy
of this record. Id been playing
guitar for 18 months before
I got a guitar myself I had
always borrowed one from
a schoolmate. Same with a
record player, I didnt get one
until I was 15, but then a friend
got me a copy of The Fool
on 78rpm and it had such a
magical sound as everything
was through a tape echo.
Nowadays you just dont get
that sound. The guitar-playing
was so good that the guitarist
got a label credit, and it read
Sanford Clark featuring Al
Casey on guitar. It certainly
influenced my style of playing.

Albert Lee, guitarist

with Emmylou Harris
The Hot Band,
performing live
in 1978

2 MEAN WOMAN BLUES

JERRY LEE LEWIS
I had to include a Jerry Lee
song and theres none better
than Mean Woman Blues.
The song was featured as the
B-Side to the UK release of
Great Balls Of Fire. The piano
sound was amazing and he
achieved it by putting drawing
pins in the felt hammers of the
piano at Sun Studio.
Such was the impact it had
on me, I put drawing pins
in the hammers of my dads
piano at home and he went
nuts. In 1973 I got to play on
Jerrys London album along
with such people as Alvin Lee,
Chas Hodges, Joe Jammer,
Mick Jones, Peter Frampton
1 YODELLING BILL
BIG BILL CAMPBELL(?)
I think it was a Big Bill, but I
dont have a copy of it so I cant
be sure. Maybe a Vintage Rock
reader can help me out with
this one. I would listen to it a lot
on the BBC when I was about
six so it would be about 1949-
50. It was a country, swing song
and I couldnt get enough of it.
Years later when I tried to get
a copy I drew a blank. I asked a
good pal of mine who worked in
the BBC record library to have
a search but he couldnt find
anything. It really is my all-time
favourite record, so if someone
can help locate a copy Ill be
over the moon. [Can you help?
email: vintagerock@anthem-
Getty

and Rory Gallagher. publishing.com]

Untitled-8 113 26/05/2017 16:50

 Coda
Images

BILLY FURY AT THE PEAK OF HIS SUCCESS IN 1962

Getty

Following the release of his best-loved hit, Halfway To Paradise in 1961, the man born
Ronald William Wycherley was subsequently marketed as a balladeer. The move into
mainstream pop didnt trouble Fury: I wanted people to think of me simply as a singer
and not, more specifically, as a rock singer, he once told the NME. Im growing up,
and I want to broaden my scope. I shall continue to sing rock songs, but at the same
time my stage act is not going to be as wild in the future.
Fury survived the seismic shift in popular culture that heralded the arrival of The
Beatles, the band that had once auditioned to be his backing group.

114 VINTAGE ROCK ISSUE 30

VR30.coda.indd 114 26/05/2017 12:17

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